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Yahoo decimates staff

by on07 January 2016


Ten percent to be fired 

Troubled search engine Yahoo is following the Ancient Roman practice of decimating its legions for poor performance.

Fortunately for the staff, they will not be beaten to death, but will instead be forced to leave the building with their belongings in an old photocopy paper box.

The layoffs, which would result in more than 1,000 people leaving the tech giant and the target is Yahoo's media business, european operations, and platforms-technology group.

Apparently this follows activist investor Starboard Value letter to Yahoo ramping up pressure on Yahoo. The letter took a swipe at Chief Executive Officer Marissa Mayer and her leadership team and raising the prospect that a proxy battle is approaching.

Starboard implied that Mayer and her officers needed to go. The activist investor also threatened to shake up the board if Yahoo's stock continued to suffer.

Yahoo spokeswoman Rebecca Neufeld said the company will provide more details on its turnaround plan prior to its fourth quarter earnings call later this month. Starboard owns about 0.75 percent of Yahoo, has been pushing for changes at the Internet company since 2014. It wants it to spin off its Asian assets and auction off the core business.

Yahoo is resisting and wants to have a tax-free spinoff of the core business, which could take at least a year. Yahoo had appointed management consulting firm McKinsey & Co, in November, to help with the reorganization of its core businesses.

The company also had plans to make big changes to its media unit, restructuring and consolidating it, including making cuts and shuttering some efforts.

 

Last modified on 07 January 2016
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