Yahoo laying off 1,500 employees: Today
This one really surprises me. I just read on Yahoo News that Yahoo will be telling 1,500 employees they are fired today. That’s about 10% of their workforce. Keep in mind that Yahoo is/was a very profitable company. In fact, according to their latest 10Q, they made almost $730MM for the first 9 months of the year. Their net income has been $1.9 BB, $751 MM, and $660 MM for 2005, 2006 and 2007 respectively.
Granted their net income is down from 2005 but it’s still pretty good and it’s better than last year. So what gives? Unfortunately, I’m not privy to the management thinking at Yahoo, but from the outside, things look like a mess there. They turned away a very favorable buyout from Microsoft a few months ago and they don’t really seem to have a clear direction.
My own analytics tell me that Google is eating their lunch and continues to gain market share. I’m sure any of you in analytics would confirm that. In addition, I’m not impressed with their PPC solution called Panama. In fact, we’ve pretty much abandoned making money with Yahoo PPC.
My guess is that other companies have figured this out as well and Yahoo knows the future is bleak. They blame the declining economy and ad revenues, but I don’t see Google laying off folks, do you? Frankly, there is only one person I’d like to see fired at Yahoo and that’s the man at the top, Jerry Yang.
paul added the following ...
I’m not sure I understand the points about prohibiting “Gas driven” cars or the “new world order.”
John added the following ...
Oops. Rush to finish. Points are: we don’t need any new cars - and there are no markets to dump the almost new vehicles - recession everywhere. The value of cars like homes will be driven down - demand-side problems - similar to what is happening in housing. Do not forget credit card limits are being culled in the new year (announcements already made by Bank of America etc.) So the point is it will take a shift (disruptive) in technology to kick up the pricing again - However, with no credit available and a limit in jobs this will take a while - Gas prices have dropped from 150 to 50 in a few months - To ensure that folks have some cash to fund Christmas purchases - and fuel the auto story - however, gas will run up again starting january - to fuel the real infrastructural changes that will occur in the near future - after a period of extreme instability we will emerge with a new economy say around 2012. Shaken but not stirred. There was an interesting piece covered by NOW the documentary series recently in which they demonstrated the fact that in the 1920s California had the highest per-capita public transport system in the world. The public land and railway system was sold to a consortium of Car companies and suppliers who turned the system into a series of roads - houses began to be built ot of town and people become dependent on their cars. Its a very interesting piece and I have to say really well supported document - well now we are back to building an infrastructure - for who’s benefit only time will tell.
Yahoo may be planning more cuts | Paul Holstein at Web Analytics Demystified added the following ...
[...] few months ago, I wrote about Yahoo cutting 1,500 employees. Now there are rumors that they will be cutting further. According to MSNBC, the new chief [...]
John added the following ...
It may help you to understand that Banking and Automobiles make up approximately 25% of all above the line advertising. If you notice the happenings in Washington lately you may will realize that next year a large portion of advertising spend will simply vanish. In terms of how long this will last is anyone’s guess. However, I will point out the subjects of 2 articles based on statistics (to get the theme back on track)that were published in Bloomberg in the past month stating that there are currently more registered vehicles in the USA than license permits - therefore, with the help of corporate america, we now own or lease more than 1 vehicle per person in this country. Secondly, the value of financing new vehicle sales in Europe (no USA figures) last year was $250 billion - most of this money is no longer available - due to issues in banking industry. This should drive home a couple of points - and not positive - The 15 billion that the Government is providing detroit buys a little time - however it is going to require that the government introduce law that prohibits the use of Gas driven cars to signal that the economy is moving again - this will take several years as you can imagine and the recapitalization of banks.
At least all governments in the west seem to be working together to build a new world order - everyone has an interest.