In a bit of sad news, Yahoo! has laid off 2,000 of its employees, registering as the largest wave of layoffs in company history. The layoffs will, as one might expect, trigger a restructuring of the company, though CEO Scott Thompson doesn’t only see doom and gloom.
As a result of the layoffs, Thompson states that though unfortunate, they mark a new era for Yahoo!; one of restructuring to be better equipped to please their customers and keep up with their competition.
“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. We are intensifying our efforts on our core businesses and redeploying resources to our most urgent priorities. 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.
“Unfortunately, reaching that goal requires the tough decision to eliminate positions. We deeply value our people and all they’ve contributed to Yahoo!.”
After completion of “employee transitions,” a nicer way to refer to layoffs and position phasing, Yahoo! expects to achieve annual savings of around $375 million. Though the layoffs reach throughout the company, the reportedly hardest hit section of Yahoo! is the product division.
Unfortunate not only that 2,000 employees have lost their jobs, but that a once great and far-reaching Internet property got hit so hard.
(via AllThingsD)
- AIM recently suffered massive layoffs
- RIM was hit by significant layoffs not too long ago
- Yahoo recently sued Facebook for patent infringement
