Yahoo seems to be struggling as of late. Sprint customers are moving forward with a class action lawsuit against the company and there are reports Yahoo is looking to sell its Internet businesses. Now, reports suggest the struggle could trickle down to employees with potential lay offs.
Business Insider, citing unnamed sources close to the situation, reports Yahoo could lay off 10% of its employees – around 1,000 people – as soon as this fiscal quarter. Further, the report said cuts could be targeted in the media business, European operations and platforms-technology group.
“A team is working on it and they want to do it this quarter,” according to the report.
RCR Wireless News columnist Jeff Kagan discussed the current situation in a recent op-ed piece.
“The problem with Yahoo is they lost forward momentum and that means they lost growth,” Kagan wrote. “Everyone seemed to be asking the same question … what’s the future? That, in fact, is the same question that was asked several years ago before Marissa Mayer came in as CEO to reinvent the company. Yahoo must start with one simple question: Who are they? Once they know that, then they have to share that with the rest of us. Then they need to start their next growth wave. Then they need to turn that growth wave into a giant forest fire of growth.”
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Company executives met last month to apparently consider selling the company’s Internet businesses including its search platform, Internet businesses including Yahoo News, Yahoo Mail and social media site Tumblr, among other holdings. There are also reports that Verizon is considering a potential purchase.
Reuters, siting inside sources and a letter from a major Yahoo shareholder to the board, reported Jan. 5, “Several major Yahoo Inc shareholders are so concerned the company’s core Internet business could fall in value that they want it sold as soon as possible.”
In an interview with Reuters, Eric Jackson, managing director of SpringOwl Asset Management, called into question the company’s leadership, which answers to CEO Marissa Mayer who took the job in 2012.
“I don’t think the market’s going to give any bump in value as long as the current management is in place,” Jackson said.