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failure
Yahoo Video: The $6 Billion Black Hole Implodes
A source at Google tells us YouTube has seen a rush of résumés from engineers at Yahoo's rival video site, after a wave of layoffs last week that devastated the team. Is Yahoo Video done? More » -
exits
Google's Still Got a Crush on Flickr, How Cute!
Yahoo has started its latest round of layoffs, which hit its pixel-cute photo-sharing site Flickr, a formerly sacrosanct fiefdom. We hear Google has its eyes on some of the Flickr employees Yahoo let slip. More » -
valleywag
Why Is Yahoo Laying People Off? The Answer Is on an Engineer's Desk
After thousands of layoffs last year, Yahoo's gearing up to cut more staff. Here's an idea: Why not trim outrageous spending first? One Yahoo engineer has helpfully, if unwittingly, shown where to start.
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Yahoo Layoffs
Yahoo songwriter uploads layoff angst to YouTube
"Screw You, Yahoo!" is a "9 to 5" anthem for the YouTube generation, a cri de cubicle for a creative class which discovered Internet companies are just as stultifying as the rest of corporate America. -
Yahoo Layoffs
Laid-off Yahoos packing heat for Jerry Yang?
Yahoo had set plans for a holiday party in L.A. right after Wednesday's mass layoffs — and it invited the victims. But just in case any were armed, Jerry Yang's guards set up metal detectors. -
rumormonger
The craziest Yahoo layoff stories
Did you hear Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang had his house lined with Kevlar before he laid off 1,500 employees? No idea if that's true, but that's the best rumor I heard all week. -
yahoo
Flickr layoffs could spell a photo finish
Every bit of Yahoo got the slash this week. Why should Flickr, the photo-sharing startup it bought in 2005, be any different? -
media
Why the Yahoo feeding frenzy?
With camera crews staking out space outside Yahoo's Sunnyvale headquarters, some employees are striking back, uploading photos of the TV reporters to Flickr before the sluggish old media can get their broadcasts together. And that's part of the big story. -
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Yahoo Layoffs
Yahoos drowning their sorrows
Where are laid-off Yahoos drinking away their sorrows? Some in San Francisco, where Yahoo's Brickhouse incubator is located, have congregated at Hotel Utah, a bar South of Market known for its live music. I called the bar and bought them a round of shots — the least I could do after all the fine, fine tips Yahoo employees have provided me over the years. The Brickhouse office will close at the end of the year, one told me. (Photo via 7x7) -
timeline
An instant history of Yahoo
With 1,500 employees gone today, Yahoo has surely hit bottom. The company's third act begins today — either an amazing rebirth, a disappearance into Microsoft, or a slow grind into irrelevance. How did those become its options? -
Yahoo Layoffs
Jerry Yang's incompetent layoff memo
Yahoo has a strict set of rules to follow in layoffs: No small talk. Get to the point. Don't own the employee's feelings. Did Jerry Yang, the stumbling Internet company's cloddish founder-CEO, follow them in his latest all-hands memo? -
Yahoo Layoffs
The long goodbye
Everything takes forever at Yahoo, the once high-flying, now famously sluggish Internet giant. Today's layoffs of 1,500 employees have been expected for months. And yet the strange thing is so many Yahoos seem unprepared. -
leaks
Yahoo's secret layoff doublespeak revealed!
Yahoo isn't firing people en masse — it's "getting fit." That noisome euphemism for today's layoffs of 1,500 people must have hissed forth from the brain of some overpaid management consultant. Likewise for pages upon pages of instructions on how to sack employees — which Valleywag has obtained. -
meltdowns
A guide to Yahoo's mass layoff
Yahoo hasn't been able to do anything right lately. Why should Wednesday's job cuts be any different? -
party report
Yahoo's last hurrah
Canceling year-end parties is a hot holiday trend. But Yahoo executives, even as they prepared to put 1,500 employees on the street this week, greenlighted a bash for the troubled Web giant which took place Saturday. The theme: gambling. Appropriate! -
Solid Cactus
E-commerce company sacks 40, posts cruise photos
I confess, I'd never heard nor read of Solid Cactus, a company that builds Yahoo stores, before the following cri de coeur dropped into the inbox a few minutes ago. I have no idea if any of the accusations in this email are true. But I liked the part where the CEO blogs his vacation pics. "Time to Get Away," indeed. More » -
layoffs
Yahoo employee turns to bad poetry
What's the only thing worse than another "Open Letter to Jerry Yang?" A freaking poem to Jerry Yang. Shakespeare was so much better at this, plus he didn't put his vanity site's URL in the final stanza. More » -
layoffs
Will Yahoo please just fire everyone at once
One sure thing worse for morale than a layoff is a multiple-stage layoff. Jason Calacanis told you not to do that. Valleywag's publisher sacked everyone early, and at the same time in multiple timezones. So the old saying was true: "If you don't know what's going on by now, it means you still work here." I get to sweat it out for Owen for another quarter. A Yahoo employee — for now — tells us it's the other way around there. The scariest part of the job, says our tipster, is not knowing whether to work or go jobhunting. More » -
we read twitter so you don't have to
Valleywag on the airwaves at Yahoo all-hands
Why did Yahoo's Gary Gale Twitter about a Wi-Fi network labeled "Valleywag" at Yahoo's quarterly all-hands meeting? If I worked for the New York Times, I'd give you all some blah-blah-blah about how we don't discuss our reporting methods. But I run a gossip rag, so I'll just play coy. We did gather that Yahoo CFO Blake Jorgensen was asked about the company's pending layoffs of 10 percent of the workforce. More » -
Layoff Memos
Jerry Yang's no-layoffs-yet layoff memo
As mysterious to Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang as the location of his keyboard's shift key is the trick to communicating layoffs. Jerry, you should deliver them the way Steve Jobs unveils the latest Apple products: All at once, and tell the audience they can get them now. Instead, in his latest no-caps memo, Yang informs Yahoo employees that 1,400 of them will lose their jobs, but they won't find out any details for "several weeks." Jerry, you're doing it wrong. Here's Yang's latest botched communication to his staff: More » -
meltdowns
Yahoo earnings as bad as everyone thought, or worse
Yahoo's earnings announcement was ghastly in two ways. The bad news: Its revenues were flat and earnings down 64 percent. The worse news: It is only cutting 10 percent of its workforce, or 1,500 employees, which will reduce expenses by $400 million. The cuts are not nearly deep enough. Yahoo is forgoing immediate pain for a prolonged period of uncertainty, as investors continue to abandon the stock and employees expect further layoffs down the road. -
rumormonger
Yahoo's stealth layoffs
Is Yahoo laying off 1,500 people? Or 3,500? It all depends on how you define "layoff." A commenter on Silicon Alley Insider has a theory on Yahoo's layoffs, which the company may finally announce in today's earnings call: More » -
meltdowns
Yahoo's party culture
We haven't yet heard who will be the entertainment at Yahoo's Christmas party, scheduled for December 6, four days before the company proceeds with mass layoffs. Yet again, it's being held at a convention center by a racetrack — this year, with a Vegas theme. 2007's party featured a Neil Diamond cover band. For this year, how about Money For Nothing, the Dire Straits tributaries? We're sure they're cheap. Good thing, because a tipster familiar with Yahoo's budget says the company will spend $8 million to $10 million this year on holiday parties alone. More » -
silicon alley insider
Henry Blodget needs more layoffs to write about
"Yahoo will almost certainly fire too few employees when it announces its mass layoffs this week," predicts Henry Blodget, the disgraced stock analyst everyone now listens to. Henry's got a bunch of charts you can look at, or you can read his kicker: "What's the smart amount of spending decline to plan for? We think about 10 percent next year and slightly more in 2010. We would also plan on the decline lasting at least two years." -
layoffs
Yahoo management orders budget cuts
Yahoo's layoffs? They're now Wall Street Journal official, which means someone in upper management decided to talk to a reporter at the newspaper before Yahoo's own employees got the word. Not that there is yet any word on how many Yahoos, exactly, are losing their jobs; Yahoo managers have been ordered to cut their budgets by 15 percent, but decisions on specific jobs won't come for weeks. Once again, Yahoo's grinding bureaucracy and nice-at-all-costs culture is keeping it from making the swift decisions its business — and its workforce — needs. -
meltdowns
Yahoo's state of delusion
When will Yahoos get real? The global economy is seizing up. Management is planning layoffs in the thousands. The stock sank below $12 this week, with only the prospect of a takeover lifting it. BusinessWeek, we're told, is preparing a devastating story on CEO Jerry Yang, calling for the board to fire him. Yet the mood at the Sunnyvale headquarters is perversely sunny. Thursday, Yahoo spent some of its shareholders' money to hire the Elvis impersonator pictured here. This is the sickness of Yahoo's purple-with-pride culture: It has emphasized self-celebration at the expense of having something to celebrate. "Funness" is prized above all — above excellence, focus, and achievement. -
great moments in journalism
Fortune unpublishes report of 3,000 job cuts at Yahoo
Is Yahoo cutting 3,000-plus jobs? A source inside the company says plans have been set to slash 3,500 jobs on December 10. And, briefly, Fortune's Techland blog agreed, reporting that Bain & Co. had recommended Yahoo cut 3,000 of its 15,000 employees. The Fortune post has been unpublished, though it still appears in Google News. I've called the writers to ask what happened to the story. Here's the excerpt which ran on Google News: More » -
leaks
Yahoo to cut 3,500 jobs — party on!
A tipster tells us that Yahoo plans to cut 3,500 jobs, chiefly in sales and finance, on December 10 — while keeping plans for a multimillion-dollar holiday party days before the cuts: More » -
meltdowns
Yahoo skids to $13, revises layoff plan
The last time YHOO traded below $13 was after 9/11 and before the U.S. invaded Iraq. (I live in San Francisco, where even Republicans obsess over these connections.) Henry Blodget, the disgraced stock analyst everyone trusts now, says Yahoo is scrambling to update its layoff plans after watching eBay go first: More » -
commenter of the day
CaliforniaCajun
You know that scene in Fight Club where Ed Norton beats the crap out of himself to walk away with off-the-books pay severance and free flight vouchers? Those lazy eBay employees didn't even have to go through that much for their sweetheart deal. Yahoos, on the other hand, would count themselves lucky to get the chance. If living in California hasn't made your heart bleed liberal juice yet, read what CaliforniaCajun, today's featured commenter, says: More » -
rumormonger
Yahoo CFO pushing to gut severance packages
The latest rumor on Yahoo's upcoming cuts: As many as 1,750 jobs lost. But far worse than the number are Yahoo CFO Blake Jorgensen's plans for the departed. A tipster says Jorgensen is pushing for zero severance pay beyond what's legally required in a mass layoff. Compare that to eBay, which sprang for five months in its latest round of cuts. "Corporate politics — such a dirty game and the average Joe gets the shaft," our tipster writes. "Financially, I don't understand this because the market is going to shit and the Street would be forgiving if Yahoo decided to give the rank and file up to six months or so. Not to mention the people at Yahoo right now stuck with management through all the turmoil, although maybe that makes them too stupid to deserve severance in excess of unemployment checks. However once the political motives come into play it makes much more sense." Political motives? More » -
layoffs
Don't worry Yahoos, 80 percent of you are definitely safe
Here's a splash of ice water for your morning cup of coffe, Yahoos: Silicon Alley Insider hears 3,500 people will lose their jobs in Yahoo's next round of layoffs. "People familiar with the company's thinking" — read: flacks who want to be able to deny the comments later — call that number too high. Cold comfort, indeed. These people say layoffs very much remain an option and that "the online ad market was already pulling up prior to Wall Street's collapse over the last few weeks, so Q4 and beyond could be scary." A tipster tells us Yahoo has already laid off two-thirds of its recruiters. A sensible move, since it's not like Yahoo will be hiring that many people. But putting those recruiters out on the street will make it all the easier for rivals to snap them up, and use their knowledge of Yahoo's talent pool to lure away the company's best remaining brains. -
breaking
Jerry Yang: Yahoo hiring Bain to cut costs
When all else fails, bring in more management consultants. We just got a copy of a memo Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang emailed employees yesterday: More » -
layoffs
New ex-Yahoos won't be alone on the street
Jerry Yang, you're not helping the local economy. Silicon Valley unemployment reached 6.5 percent last month, up from 6.4 percent in July. It's the fourth month in a row that the number increased, reports Digital Daily. Hewlett-Packard recently announced it plans to cut 24,000 jobs, and an analyst said eBay needs to lose 1,500. But we're curious: Have any startups had layoffs? The snidely buoyant attitude of South of Market's bubble dwellers is unlikely to change until their friends start getting pink-slipped. -
rumormonger
Yahoo layoffs memo may come today
A tipster tells us: "Having drinks w/a couple acquaintances from Yahoo. Word is an internal memo is going out today from Jerry or Sue that essentially says, 'Get ready for some streamlining,' and not much more." Kara Swisher reports that executives at Yahoo are telling employees to brace themselves for "rightsizing," in anticipation of drops in the online-advertising market. Yahoo reports quarterly earnings on October 21, at which point investors will get their first look at the business results driving the rumored cutbacks. Got the memo? Send it in. -
exits
Report: Yahoo mobile exec Steve Boom hangs up on the company
"Sure, I know some people at Yahoo," says an industry executive. "They're scared. The company's in Titanic mode." The latest exec to scurry off the ship: Ten-year veteran Steve Boom, the No. 2 at Yahoo Mobile, says TechCrunch, which broke the story. What prompted his departure? Not sure yet, but we've heard Boom's division talked about as the target of layoffs. -
cubicle culture
The fear and loathing never ends at Yahoo
Yahoo sources told BoomTown's Kara Swisher that there's a price to be paid for management's lofty promises to shareholders. Top executives are considering "cutting costs" in Yahoo's mobile operations and the Santa Monica-based Yahoo Media Group. A Yahoo executive tells us that he doesn't buy the layoff rumors, and he's "not overly worried." So who are Swisher's sources and why are they spreading so much doom and gloom? That's just life at Yahoo, our source said: More » -
valleyspeak
More Yahoo layoffs coming
Yahoo's Aikido and Judo projects, briefly mentioned in a New York Times story, "are, in fact, yet another round of navel-gazing strategy overview efforts," Kara Swisher reports. Translation: more layoffs to come. [BoomTown] -
strategery
Yahoo's short-term plan: layoffs and lawsuits
A still-independent Yahoo filed a 10-Q with the SEC last week, putting in writing some its current realities as well as its expectations for the coming quarter. Severance packages and other layoff expenses cost Yahoo $29 million in the first quarter. It plans to pay another $15 million in the second. Yahoo also now faces at least 10 shareholder lawsuits following the Microsoft merger negotiations. -
layoffs
Steve Ballmer to hold town hall at Microsoft tomorrow
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has scheduled a "town hall" meeting for Microsoft employees tomorrow at 9 a.m. The subject of Yahoo will probably come up, but why would Microsoft employees beyond executives care? More »
































