It seems that history has come to repeat itself again and again – Yahoo, facing further declining profits and falling shares in the face of the struggling economy may be making up to 600 layoffs this week. In 2008, Yahoo made close to 2,500 job cuts. Announcement of the job eliminations are expected to be made on Tuesday, April 22 when the company announces its first quarter earnings. Sources at Yahoo are not commenting either way. From Information Week:
Yahoo representatives declined to comment on a New York Times report citing unnamed sources and a “confidential” plan to lay off Yahoo workers on or before Tuesday. The layoffs would be the first since Carol Bartz took over as CEO in January.
Yet, despite the lack of comment on Yahoo’s behalf, there are a number of predictions and/or assumptions being made as to why these cuts are being made. From Business Week:
Still, the cuts, which Yahoo had hinted last December might be necessary, would be a clear sign not only of [New CEO Carol] Bartz’s influence, which included a recent management shakeup, but of Yahoo’s continuing struggles. For the past two years or so, it has been losing more and more ground the search ad giant Google. That led to Microsoft launching a hostile bid for Yahoo early last year, which distracted management and accelerated the departure of more top executives and engineering talent—some to Microsoft.”
There are even more rumors of services being cut
Will Microsoft once again jump in to save the day? Tune in again Tuesday and we’ll see what the first quarter earnings really have to say.