Maynard Webb, Yahoo’s Chairman of the Board, said: “The Board also believes that exploring additional strategic alternatives, in parallel to the execution of the management plan, is in the best interest of our shareholders”.
Advertisement
Yahoo said in a statement that the 15 percent cull will take place in the first quarter, but by the end of 2016, the company only have around 9,000 employees. After subtracting ad commissions, revenue plunged 15 percent to $1 billion compared with the previous year – the biggest drop since Mayer became CEO in July 2012.
Yahoo will be laying off about 1,700 of its employees in a massive cost-cutting measure that may determine whether its embattled CEO, Marissa Mayer, can remain at her post.
Yahoo Games and Smart TV products will go, while some of the Digital Magazine initiatives are set to be consolidated. In addition, Mayer said that Yahoo plans to emphasize on growing the company’s verticals in news, finance, sports and lifestyle. The company sees the cuts resulting in savings of $400 million a year.
That turnaround plan includes the closure of offices in five locations, fewer products, more money for moile search and selling off some less-essential parts of the business like real estate and patents. Even though the company made $1.27 billion in revenue during the last quarter, it had a writedown of $4.5 billion.
It expects to generate revenue of over $1.8 billion in 2016 through its Mavens strategy, which includes advertisements through mobile, video, native and social platforms.
It’s the latest effort by Mayer to placate shareholders while she tries to turn Yahoo’s business around and get it back to growth, something she’s been working on since taking the helm more than three years ago.
Yahoo Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) stated on Wednesday that it is considering “strategic alternatives” for its struggling core Internet business. These ideas added up to distrust in Mayer’s ability to lead the 20 year-old company. They have been calling on the company to put for sale its core web businesses as Mayer failed to grow the company since taking over.
Advertisement
“The company will shift most of the resources in this area toward more forward-leaning mobile search investments, positioning it to redefine search for mobile devices, which will help drive sustainable long-term growth and differentiation”, the firm said.
