Kenneth Goldman, CFO, said that through sales, closures and efficiency programmes Yahoo plans to reduce its headcount to approximately 9,000 people by the end of 2016 -meaning the loss of 1,590 jobs.
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In the most recent quarter, Yahoo reported a $4.43 billion loss, or $4.70 per share.
Yahoo is cutting 15% of its workforce as the company pursues an “aggressive strategic plan” to return to profitability. She acknowledged the plan calls for bold shifts in both products and resources and signaled that the company would bet heavily on its billion-plus dollar business in mobile, video, native and social, also known as Mavens.
In an apparent concession to some shareholders, Mayer also said Yahoo’s board will mull “strategic alternatives” that could result in the sale of all the company’s internet operations.
Yahoo reported a 15.2 per cent drop in adjusted revenue for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2015, to $1.00 billion from $1.18 billion.
Both for Yahoo and Mayer, the journey has not been an easy one.
Yahoo will concentrate on search, mail and Tumblr and four content areas comprising news, sports, finance and lifestyle as it tries to win advertisers back from Facebook and Google, which have dominated the market since Yahoo’s peak in 2008.
Marissa Mayer is trying her damnedest to turn around Yahoo! Yahoo is now 42 percent smaller than when she arrived, even though she has made several acquisitions including the blogging platform Tumblr.
When Mayer took over at Yahoo, she said the company was full of legacy businesses and a declining revenue stream that had to be stopped.
Yahoo’s revenue – after deducting fees paid to partner websites – fell to $US1 billion from $US1.18 billion.
“We believe the strategic plan does not fully address the core issues which have destroyed shareholder value – poor capital allocation, bad strategic partnerships, out of control spending and a bloated workforce”, said New York-based SpringOwl Asset Management, a shareholder which has called for changes at the company. “We’re right at the beginning of what the board wants to do”, Mayer said late on Tuesday. Last year, the company’s Mavens revenue was $1.66 billion, which represents 28% of traffic-driven revenue.
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Through this plan, the company is expecting to get on growth track again by 2017 and 2018. Things till look bleak, as company’s forecast a net revenue decline of 12 percent to 17 percent this year. That deficit can be explained by a massive goodwill impairment charge, which essentially means that Yahoo now values its brands at much less than they were before.
