Yahoo to lay off 15 percent of its workforce

PanARMENIAN.Net - Yahoo Inc will lay off 2,000 people, or 15 percent of its workforce, in its deepest round of job cuts in years as new CEO Scott Thompson tries to drive innovation within a leaner, more agile company while saving hundreds of millions of dollars, Reuters reported.

Wall Street was again dubious the move would drive growth, which flagged under two previous CEOs who failed to find an answer to the likes of Google and Facebook, even as Thompson said he was intensifying the company's focus on its core businesses.

"Today's actions are an important next step toward a bold, new Yahoo - smaller, nimbler, more profitable and better equipped to innovate as fast as our customers and our industry require," Thompson said on Wednesday, April 4.

"Our goal is to get back to our core purpose - putting our users and advertisers first - and we are moving aggressively to achieve that goal," said Thompson, who took the helm of the company in January.

Sunnyvale, California-based Yahoo, which ended 2011 with some 14,000 employees, said it would save $375 million annually from the cuts, and will incur a pretax cash charge in the second quarter of $125 million to $145 million.

The layoffs follow Yahoo's declining revenue due to competition from Web rivals Google Inc and Facebook. Last year, Yahoo's revenue totaled $4.98 billion, compared with Facebook's $3.71 billion. Facebook has some 3,200 employees, compared with Yahoo's 14,000.

Yahoo is also fighting a proxy battle with hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb. Loeb, who runs Third Point, is seeking to appoint four new directors to Yahoo's board. Third Point, with a 5.8 percent stake in Yahoo, is the company's largest shareholder.