14 ms·

Yahoo planning 10% layoffs as early as this month, report says

119 points by e15ctr0n 11y ago

iofj 11y ago
That's the second time : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/04/yahoo-layoffs-2000-jobs-cut_n_1402470.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/04/yahoo-layoffs-2000-...
- gcb0 11y ago
  second? how quaint... every single CEO did that. some every year. mayer did her's in small installments to not show up in the media. but still got the same cut at the end. i think it's some textbook the board have
  - influx 11y ago
    Reminds me of this story: A fellow had just been hired as the new CEO of a large high tech corporation. The CEO who was stepping down met with him privately and presented him with three numbered envelopes. "Open these if you run up against a problem you don't think you can solve," he said. Well, things went along pretty smoothly, but six months later, sales took a downturn and he was really catching a lot of heat. About at his wit's end, he remembered the envelopes. He went to his drawer and took out the first envelope. The message read, "Blame your predecessor." The new CEO called a press conference and tactfully laid the blame at the feet of the previous CEO. Satisfied with his comments, the press -- and Wall Street - responded positively, sales began to pick up and the problem was soon behind him. About a year later, the company was again experiencing a slight dip in sales, combined with serious product problems. Having learned from his previous experience, the CEO quickly opened the second envelope. The message read, "Reorganize." This he did, and the company quickly rebounded. After several consecutive profitable quarters, the company once again fell on difficult times. The CEO went to his office, closed the door and opened the third envelope. The message said, "Prepare three envelopes."
  - voltagex_ 11y ago
    There has to be a better way to run a company... this kind of thing from so many companies world wide cannot be good for society as a whole.
    - eru 11y ago
      Why? Releasing the workforce from an unproductive company is exactly what society needs. The opposite is zombie companies.
      - voltagex_ 11y ago
        Perhaps Yahoo should have been split into smaller companies sooner. With better management, Flickr could have been Instagram.
        toomuchtodo 11y ago
        I've been preparing to try to make an offer for Flickr in the event it goes up for sale (separate from the rest of the web business), organizing it as a benefit corp to be a long term business not to be put up for sale. It shouldn't be an Instagram. Its not a social network. Its a photo site that helps you organize/keep your photos, as well as share them (there's a difference). Just bidding my time, ear to the ground.
        tamana 11y ago
        Why? There are many great photography hosting services. Flickr is only special because Yahoo makes it free as a marketing gesture
        toomuchtodo 11y ago
        Can you list one? I've found SmugMug and 500px to be significantly inferior to Flickr, which is why I'm still a Pro Flickr subscriber.
        voltagex_ 11y ago
hkmurakami 11y ago
Preparing for a sale of their "internet business" perhaps.
- alexandrerond 11y ago
  When Nokia sold the Devices division to Microsoft it did the opposite, did not fire anyone, and let the new owner take care of it...
  - vonklaus 11y ago
    Nokia, in many ways, was the pioneer of SaaS. They developed a globally recognized product that would become both the iconic application associated with early cellphone applications and paved the way for a globally distributed market for mobile gaming. However, as time went on while using the product, it became increasingly difficult to find room to move horizontally as well as vertically within the space. Ultimately, continually completing objectives made it more difficult to pivot. Inevitably, their SaaS product became frustrating and deprecated and the marginal utility diminished. With a lack of new offerings Nokia was forced out of the market it created (Snake as a Service) and we were forced to go back to playing the helicopter game on the bewest RIM blackberry.
    - jacquesm 11y ago
      I never saw them involved in the service business at all, to me they were a hardware company and nothing else. That's how I look at my phone (and computers too), as pieces of hardware not tied to any particular service or eco-system unless I decide they should be. I don't buy subsidized phones with a 'plan' and what software comes with the computer I buy is wiped out before it even gets run once.
  - Alupis 11y ago
    > and let the new owner take care of it... That was likely part of a carefully planned PR move. Microsoft was in a position to be able to weather a massive layoff, especially if it was spun as reducing duplication after picking up a new division. Nokia, on the other hand, would have looked far worse selling off half the company after a huge layoff.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
gcb0 11y ago
investors who bought YHOO just to wait the Ali baba sale would love the company cut 500mi/year over year in salaries (or disinvest on products?) so when the dismantling finally comes the pie slices are bigger.
Esau 11y ago
Don't worry people; I am sure the CEO will be okay.
- notacoward 11y ago
  Yeah, all the "wealth creators" at the top will do fine. It's only the people who did the work and made the stuff who will be laid off. Their fault for not cultivating the right connections.
  - Alupis 11y ago
    > It's only the people who did the work and made the stuff who will be laid off. Well... what do you expect? You're either the job creator or the job filler. If you could create jobs and had the right motivation and ability to do so, you wouldn't be filling a job. > Their fault for not cultivating the right connections. And yes, knowing the right people is part of that game. And yes, sometimes the job creators must destroy some jobs in order to save the rest. What's better... 10% of Yahoo! laid off... or 100%?
    - aaronbrethorst 11y ago
      You're either the job creator or the job filler. Please explain to me which one of those labels best applies to the executive team at Yahoo.
      - Alupis 11y ago
        > Please explain to me which one of those labels best applies to the executive team at Yahoo Clearly the former. In 2012 Yahoo had 11,700 employees, and by 2014 they had 12,500 employees.[1] The 10% layoff is going to be around the difference there (so net zero), but I don't think any reasonable person could argue not cutting jobs in this situation would result in a net gain for Yahoo. It's a company in trouble, and it's a reasonable course of action. [1] http://www.statista.com/statistics/260291/number-of-full-time-yahoo-employees/ http://www.statista.com/statistics/260291/number-of-full-tim...
hwestbrook 11y ago
I wonder if 10% is enough of a cut to make the business viable again, or if this is just pandering to the market. Seems likely that someone picked this number out of the air to make a statement.
- nullrouted 11y ago
  Time to buy magic 8 ball stock as Yahoo is certainly increasing demand.
aaawow 11y ago
new WhatsApp coming
- orsenthil 11y ago
  This is the best comment.
mailmrg 11y ago
10% for Yahoo, given the current suite of products is low. for long time yahoo hasn't streamlined their product offerings. Just streamlining them alone will help them become more leaner. as far as CEO is concerned, yes, she is very much covered.
ausjke 11y ago
Been a yahoo mail premium member for so many years (along with its calendar) it's something I care daily. From about 2 years ago the new mail became a hit or miss randomly, overall a much worse experience than what I used to have, and I am unhappy about that. To me since Mayer came to power, yahoo email became less reliable, a big negative.
- bruceb 11y ago
  I have accounts on the 3 main providers Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo Mail. Which gives me the most trouble? Yahoo Mail. When Mayer became CEO she told employees to start using Yahoo Mail. I wonder how many are actually doing so. I would think if they were actually using it the product would now have less glitches.
  - ec109685 11y ago
    All of them.
    - pcardh0 11y ago
      That is correct, everyone at Yahoo uses yahoo mail
ilostmykeys 11y ago
A society that has no saftey net except for the lucky and rather dumb 1%ers is one that will fall apart, sooner or later. Or experience radical disruption.
yeukhon 11y ago
Yahoo needs to kill off half of their products and just focus on four things: * news (finance & sports) * Search & Portal (that's where they make $$$) * YMail (because there are still millions of users) * fantasy sports and extend it. Spin off Tumblr and Flickr into a startup focus on content and high-quality photo source (TBH there is very little quality content on Tumblr and the attraction / hype is gone - speaking from user after five years of using Tumblr), and other applications should be killed, including their article reading mobile app, Developer network, and the newly resurrected Y! Messenger. BTW, Yahoo is one of the most generous companies out there paying security bounty (good and bad for too many submissions :] )
- aylmao 11y ago
  Disagree about Tumblr. A year ago it was still the fastest growing social platform, and it still proves to be (especially in 2015) the big source of viral internet content.
  - yeukhon 11y ago
    Fastest doesn't mean actually making tons of money. Sure vaulation on # of user, but a business can't live forever with # of users. How many of these users are making original contents? I keep seeing posts from years ago getting liked over and over by the people I follow on Tumblr.
branchless 11y ago
Love the yahoo stock portfolio view. If you know a better one please let me know, just for my interest.
reddygaru 11y ago
Don't kill Tumblr please. It is my go to source for porn.
- wsc981 11y ago
  There's still Bing Videos[0]. It's super effective! --- [0]: https://www.bing.com/?scope=video https://www.bing.com/?scope=video
  - mrweasel 11y ago
    Strangely enough Bing Videos doesn't work anymore. I don't know if it's a regional thing or if they killed it.
codyguy 11y ago
They could have been serious contender in semantic search. I remember trying to reach out to some yahoos regarding an ambitious, yet serious proposal on semantic search using ThatNeedle.com. we could have made an impact. I could not get to the right audience even for a demo or a proposal. I guess they have too many silos built on top of an ivory tower. Nonetheless, it would be sad to see them fade away.
- ugh123 11y ago
  You mean you tried to peddle your startup (for acquisition likely) to them and you couldn't get your foot in the door? And that could have made them a "contender"? Please
  - codyguy 11y ago
    outsourcing search to Bing certainly didn't help. Not sure they had much to lose in search.
brandon272 11y ago
I've thought for some time that Yahoo! should have moved into the streaming video business, including emulating Netflix and producing original content on a subscription basis. In the very least it would have been a way to lure people to their website and get them to spend a lot more time within/adjacent to the Yahoo! ecosystem. Come to think of it, I'm not even sure if Yahoo! has ever done anything video related. I wonder why?
- bsimpson 11y ago
  https://yodel.yahoo.com/blogs/general/live-yahoo-saturday-night-232247921.html https://yodel.yahoo.com/blogs/general/live-yahoo-saturday-ni... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_original_programs_distributed_by_Yahoo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_original_programs_dist...!
bitL 11y ago
Next logical step - Yahoo should hire Elop as CEO ;-)

119 points by e15ctr0n 11y ago

iofj 11y ago

That's the second time : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/04/yahoo-layoffs-2000-jobs-cut_n_1402470.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/04/yahoo-layoffs-2000-...

gcb0 11y ago
second? how quaint... every single CEO did that. some every year. mayer did her's in small installments to not show up in the media. but still got the same cut at the end. i think it's some textbook the board have
- influx 11y ago
  Reminds me of this story: A fellow had just been hired as the new CEO of a large high tech corporation. The CEO who was stepping down met with him privately and presented him with three numbered envelopes. "Open these if you run up against a problem you don't think you can solve," he said. Well, things went along pretty smoothly, but six months later, sales took a downturn and he was really catching a lot of heat. About at his wit's end, he remembered the envelopes. He went to his drawer and took out the first envelope. The message read, "Blame your predecessor." The new CEO called a press conference and tactfully laid the blame at the feet of the previous CEO. Satisfied with his comments, the press -- and Wall Street - responded positively, sales began to pick up and the problem was soon behind him. About a year later, the company was again experiencing a slight dip in sales, combined with serious product problems. Having learned from his previous experience, the CEO quickly opened the second envelope. The message read, "Reorganize." This he did, and the company quickly rebounded. After several consecutive profitable quarters, the company once again fell on difficult times. The CEO went to his office, closed the door and opened the third envelope. The message said, "Prepare three envelopes."
- voltagex_ 11y ago
  There has to be a better way to run a company... this kind of thing from so many companies world wide cannot be good for society as a whole.
  - eru 11y ago
    Why? Releasing the workforce from an unproductive company is exactly what society needs. The opposite is zombie companies.
    - voltagex_ 11y ago
      Perhaps Yahoo should have been split into smaller companies sooner. With better management, Flickr could have been Instagram.
      - toomuchtodo 11y ago
        I've been preparing to try to make an offer for Flickr in the event it goes up for sale (separate from the rest of the web business), organizing it as a benefit corp to be a long term business not to be put up for sale. It shouldn't be an Instagram. Its not a social network. Its a photo site that helps you organize/keep your photos, as well as share them (there's a difference). Just bidding my time, ear to the ground.
        tamana 11y ago
        Why? There are many great photography hosting services. Flickr is only special because Yahoo makes it free as a marketing gesture
        toomuchtodo 11y ago
        Can you list one? I've found SmugMug and 500px to be significantly inferior to Flickr, which is why I'm still a Pro Flickr subscriber.
        voltagex_ 11y ago

hkmurakami 11y ago

Preparing for a sale of their "internet business" perhaps.

alexandrerond 11y ago
When Nokia sold the Devices division to Microsoft it did the opposite, did not fire anyone, and let the new owner take care of it...
- vonklaus 11y ago
  Nokia, in many ways, was the pioneer of SaaS. They developed a globally recognized product that would become both the iconic application associated with early cellphone applications and paved the way for a globally distributed market for mobile gaming. However, as time went on while using the product, it became increasingly difficult to find room to move horizontally as well as vertically within the space. Ultimately, continually completing objectives made it more difficult to pivot. Inevitably, their SaaS product became frustrating and deprecated and the marginal utility diminished. With a lack of new offerings Nokia was forced out of the market it created (Snake as a Service) and we were forced to go back to playing the helicopter game on the bewest RIM blackberry.
  - jacquesm 11y ago
    I never saw them involved in the service business at all, to me they were a hardware company and nothing else. That's how I look at my phone (and computers too), as pieces of hardware not tied to any particular service or eco-system unless I decide they should be. I don't buy subsidized phones with a 'plan' and what software comes with the computer I buy is wiped out before it even gets run once.
- Alupis 11y ago
  > and let the new owner take care of it... That was likely part of a carefully planned PR move. Microsoft was in a position to be able to weather a massive layoff, especially if it was spun as reducing duplication after picking up a new division. Nokia, on the other hand, would have looked far worse selling off half the company after a huge layoff.

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

gcb0 11y ago

investors who bought YHOO just to wait the Ali baba sale would love the company cut 500mi/year over year in salaries (or disinvest on products?) so when the dismantling finally comes the pie slices are bigger.

Esau 11y ago

Don't worry people; I am sure the CEO will be okay.

notacoward 11y ago
Yeah, all the "wealth creators" at the top will do fine. It's only the people who did the work and made the stuff who will be laid off. Their fault for not cultivating the right connections.
- Alupis 11y ago
  > It's only the people who did the work and made the stuff who will be laid off. Well... what do you expect? You're either the job creator or the job filler. If you could create jobs and had the right motivation and ability to do so, you wouldn't be filling a job. > Their fault for not cultivating the right connections. And yes, knowing the right people is part of that game. And yes, sometimes the job creators must destroy some jobs in order to save the rest. What's better... 10% of Yahoo! laid off... or 100%?
  - aaronbrethorst 11y ago
    You're either the job creator or the job filler. Please explain to me which one of those labels best applies to the executive team at Yahoo.
    - Alupis 11y ago
      > Please explain to me which one of those labels best applies to the executive team at Yahoo Clearly the former. In 2012 Yahoo had 11,700 employees, and by 2014 they had 12,500 employees.[1] The 10% layoff is going to be around the difference there (so net zero), but I don't think any reasonable person could argue not cutting jobs in this situation would result in a net gain for Yahoo. It's a company in trouble, and it's a reasonable course of action. [1] http://www.statista.com/statistics/260291/number-of-full-time-yahoo-employees/ http://www.statista.com/statistics/260291/number-of-full-tim...

hwestbrook 11y ago

I wonder if 10% is enough of a cut to make the business viable again, or if this is just pandering to the market. Seems likely that someone picked this number out of the air to make a statement.

nullrouted 11y ago
Time to buy magic 8 ball stock as Yahoo is certainly increasing demand.

aaawow 11y ago

new WhatsApp coming

orsenthil 11y ago
This is the best comment.

mailmrg 11y ago

10% for Yahoo, given the current suite of products is low. for long time yahoo hasn't streamlined their product offerings. Just streamlining them alone will help them become more leaner. as far as CEO is concerned, yes, she is very much covered.

ausjke 11y ago

Been a yahoo mail premium member for so many years (along with its calendar) it's something I care daily. From about 2 years ago the new mail became a hit or miss randomly, overall a much worse experience than what I used to have, and I am unhappy about that. To me since Mayer came to power, yahoo email became less reliable, a big negative.

bruceb 11y ago
I have accounts on the 3 main providers Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo Mail. Which gives me the most trouble? Yahoo Mail. When Mayer became CEO she told employees to start using Yahoo Mail. I wonder how many are actually doing so. I would think if they were actually using it the product would now have less glitches.
- ec109685 11y ago
  All of them.
  - pcardh0 11y ago
    That is correct, everyone at Yahoo uses yahoo mail

ilostmykeys 11y ago

A society that has no saftey net except for the lucky and rather dumb 1%ers is one that will fall apart, sooner or later. Or experience radical disruption.

yeukhon 11y ago

Yahoo needs to kill off half of their products and just focus on four things: * news (finance & sports) * Search & Portal (that's where they make $$$) * YMail (because there are still millions of users) * fantasy sports and extend it. Spin off Tumblr and Flickr into a startup focus on content and high-quality photo source (TBH there is very little quality content on Tumblr and the attraction / hype is gone - speaking from user after five years of using Tumblr), and other applications should be killed, including their article reading mobile app, Developer network, and the newly resurrected Y! Messenger. BTW, Yahoo is one of the most generous companies out there paying security bounty (good and bad for too many submissions :] )

aylmao 11y ago
Disagree about Tumblr. A year ago it was still the fastest growing social platform, and it still proves to be (especially in 2015) the big source of viral internet content.
- yeukhon 11y ago
  Fastest doesn't mean actually making tons of money. Sure vaulation on # of user, but a business can't live forever with # of users. How many of these users are making original contents? I keep seeing posts from years ago getting liked over and over by the people I follow on Tumblr.

branchless 11y ago

Love the yahoo stock portfolio view. If you know a better one please let me know, just for my interest.

reddygaru 11y ago

Don't kill Tumblr please. It is my go to source for porn.

wsc981 11y ago
There's still Bing Videos[0]. It's super effective! --- [0]: https://www.bing.com/?scope=video https://www.bing.com/?scope=video
- mrweasel 11y ago
  Strangely enough Bing Videos doesn't work anymore. I don't know if it's a regional thing or if they killed it.

codyguy 11y ago

They could have been serious contender in semantic search. I remember trying to reach out to some yahoos regarding an ambitious, yet serious proposal on semantic search using ThatNeedle.com. we could have made an impact. I could not get to the right audience even for a demo or a proposal. I guess they have too many silos built on top of an ivory tower. Nonetheless, it would be sad to see them fade away.

ugh123 11y ago
You mean you tried to peddle your startup (for acquisition likely) to them and you couldn't get your foot in the door? And that could have made them a "contender"? Please
- codyguy 11y ago
  outsourcing search to Bing certainly didn't help. Not sure they had much to lose in search.

brandon272 11y ago

I've thought for some time that Yahoo! should have moved into the streaming video business, including emulating Netflix and producing original content on a subscription basis. In the very least it would have been a way to lure people to their website and get them to spend a lot more time within/adjacent to the Yahoo! ecosystem. Come to think of it, I'm not even sure if Yahoo! has ever done anything video related. I wonder why?

bsimpson 11y ago
https://yodel.yahoo.com/blogs/general/live-yahoo-saturday-night-232247921.html https://yodel.yahoo.com/blogs/general/live-yahoo-saturday-ni... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_original_programs_distributed_by_Yahoo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_original_programs_dist...!

bitL 11y ago

Next logical step - Yahoo should hire Elop as CEO ;-)