Yahoo! waves goodbye to 1,500 workers

'Layoffs unfortunately unavoidable', says Yang

By Kelly Fiveash • Get more from this author

Posted in Financial News, 11th December 2008 11:41 GMT

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Yahoo! began laying off more than 1,500 employees yesterday as part of the struggling company’s latest painful round of job cuts.

The internet giant has swung the job axe across all departments at Yahoo!, with human resources and finance workers reportedly expected to take the biggest hit.

Lame duck CEO Jerry Yang told Yahoo! workers that the firm “must take actions to better perform in today's turbulent global economy. While we've found efficiencies in many parts of our business, laying off employees is unfortunately unavoidable.”

He added that the decision to axe jobs had been a “difficult” one, but said it meant Yahoo! could “better align costs with revenues”.

Yang, who resigned from the CEO post last month, said during the company's Q3 earnings call in October that Yahoo! would jettison at least ten per cent of its workforce by the end of the year, affecting about 1,500 positions.

In related news, hedge fund Ivory Investment Management (IIM) has urged the Yahoo! board to salvage a search business deal with Microsoft, reports the Wall Street Journal.

IIM owns a 1.5 per cent stake in the internet firm. The shareholder said in a letter to Yahoo! management that selling the company’s search biz to MS could lead to a deal worth twice as much as Yahoo!’s current stock price.

Yahoo! shares closed at $13.4 on Nasdaq yesterday. ®

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