Yahoo layoffs

[Billy Monday]

It's not just newspapers. Almost anything involving literacy is taking hits these days.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/21/yahoo_jobs_purge/

 

[Jeremy Goodwin]

For those who don't want to click on the link:

Yahoo! readies! jobs! purge?
Depredate to accumulate
By Chris Williams
Published Monday 21st January 2008 10:41 GMT

Yahoo! is reportedly gearing up to sack up to 20 per cent of its worldwide staff in the next two weeks.

It currently has about 12,000 employees. Multiple tips doing the rounds say a list of between 1,500 and 2,500 individuals has been drawn up for the cutbacks.

Investors have long been clamouring for lay-offs, even before Yahoo! founder Jerry Yang resumed the helm last June. Meanwhile, the firm's share price has sunk to new lows and its slice of the search market continues to shrink.

In a statement in response to the gossip, Yahoo! said: "Yahoo! plans to invest in some areas, reduce emphasis in others, and eliminate some areas of the business that don't support the Company’s priorities."

A series of new product launches, such as its graduate jobseekers' social network Kickstart, have received a resounding "muh" from web users.

If Yang does swing the axe soon, it's likely staff in Europe - where the Google-shaped mountain it needs to climb is even bigger than in the US - will be hit. European boss Toby Coppel issued a public ultimatum in November that poorly performing units will be closed or sold in the first quarter of 2008. ®

 

[mike311gd]

I have a hard time believing the journalists in the company -- at least on the sports side -- will be impacted by these layoffs.

 

[Pete Incaviglia]

But, but, but . . . the interwebs are the future! Advertisers are turning to the intertubes in droves! [/lyingpublishers&shareholders]

 

[Write-brained]

This website could really bolster its credibilty by not putting multiple exclamation marks in its headline ...

 

[Jeremy Goodwin]

I have a hard time believing the journalists in the company -- at least on the sports side -- will be impacted by these layoffs.

I'll second that. Not to mention this isn't fact yet. "Yahoo! is REPORTEDLY...It currently has about 12,000 employees. MULTIPLE TIPS DOING THE ROUNDS say a list of between 1,500 and 2,500 individuals has been drawn up for the cutbacks."

 

[Jeremy Goodwin]

This website could really bolster its credibilty by not putting multiple exclamation marks in its headline ...

Really! You! Think! So!?!

 

[Pete Incaviglia]

This website could really bolster its credibilty by not putting multiple exclamation marks in its headline ...

Really! You! Think! So!?!

Well, maybe I don't use my exclamation points as haphazardly as you do. [/jakejarmel]

 

[mike311gd]

This website could really bolster its credibilty by not putting multiple exclamation marks in its headline ...

Lippman: I was just going over the Jake Jarmel book and I understand you worked with him very closely.
Elaine: Yes, krhm, yes I did.
Lippman: And, anyway I was just reading your final edit, um, there seems to be an inordinate number of exclamation points.
Elaine: Well, I felt that the writing lacked certain emotion and intensity.
Lippman: Oh, "It was damp and chilly afternoon, so I decided to put on my sweatshirt!"
Elaine: Right, well...
Lippman: You put exclamation point after sweatshirt?
Elaine: That's that's correct, I-I felt that the character doesn't like to be ch-ch-chilly...
Lippman: I see, "I pulled the lever on the machine, but the Clark bar didn't come out!" Exclamation point?
Elaine: Well, yeah, you know how frustrating that can be when you keep putting quarters and quarters in to machine and then *prrt* nothing comes out...
Lippman: Get rid of the exclamation points...
Elaine: Ok, ok ok ...
Lippman: I hate exclamation points...

 

[mike311gd]

This website could really bolster its credibilty by not putting multiple exclamation marks in its headline ...

Really! You! Think! So!?!

Well, maybe I don't use my exclamation points as haphazardly as you do. [/jakejarmel]

Damn, dude.

 

[Write-brained]

This sentence gives me the creeps too ...

"Multiple tips doing the rounds say a list of between 1,500 and 2,500 individuals has been drawn up for the cutbacks."

Doing the rounds? Who's doing the rounds? The writer? The tips? Huh?

 

[FreddiePatek]

And! So! It! Begins!

 

[Jeremy Goodwin]

Alicia Clark (Glenn Close): What’s the wood.
Lou (Geoffrey Owens): Something simple, caught. Something like that.
Alicia Clark: Caught? That’s so boring. How about something like gotcha.
Lou: OK, great. Gotcha with a slammer.
Wire editor: Oh, yeah, God forbid this paper runs something without and exclamation mark.

 

[fishwrapper]

I have a hard time believing the journalists in the company -- at least on the sports side -- will be impacted by these layoffs.

A couple points of clarification.
The success of Yahoo! Sports has less to do with Yahoo! Sports and more to do with Yahoo!'s dominance of fantasy sports. Of course Yahoo! has hired to some outstanding sports journalists, but it's to have original content around a fantasy framework.
How strong is Yahoo!'s Election 2008 coverage team? A rhetorical muse.
You think newspapers are a slippery slope? You think newspapers' future are in doubt? Yahoo!'s stock is in trouble. In five years who knows what fantasy football/basketball/baseball will become and what technology fad will be the rave.
On these postboards, Yahoo! Sports is talked about as if it's a newsbreaking behemoth. Of course, they've had a story they've owned. But, the fact remains, they're a staff the size of a large metro that will be holden to a stock price and investors. Sound familiar?
They don't have a network (ESPN).
They lost the aggregate war and are losing the search battle (Google).
There are wonderful journalists there. The quality of their work is unquestionable. What I do question is the final-destination status bestowed on Yahoo! by many on this board.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

I have a hard time believing the journalists in the company -- at least on the sports side -- will be impacted by these layoffs.

A couple points of clarification.
The success of Yahoo! Sports has less to do with Yahoo! Sports and more to do with Yahoo!'s dominance of fantasy sports. Of course Yahoo! has hired to some outstanding sports journalists, but it's to have original content around a fantasy framework.
How strong is Yahoo!'s Election 2008 coverage team? A rhetorical muse.
You think newspapers are a slippery slope? You think newspapers' future are in doubt? Yahoo!'s stock is in trouble. In five years who knows what fantasy football/basketball/baseball will become and what technology fad will be the rave.
On these postboards, Yahoo! Sports is talked about as if it's a newsbreaking behemoth. Of course, they've had a story they've owned. But, the fact remains, they're a staff the size of a large metro that will be holden to a stock price and investors. Sound familiar?
They don't have a network (ESPN).
They lost the aggregate war and are losing the search battle (Google).
There are wonderful journalists there. The quality of their work is unquestionable. What I do question is the final-destination status bestowed on Yahoo! by many on this board.

Yahoo has been saying for awhile that is it more read than ESPN.com and I have long thought that was a very misleading stat, because of the fantasy sports.

They have definitely hired some great writers and editors over the last couple years and I hope none of them are in trouble...

 

[fishwrapper]

Yahoo has been saying for awhile that is it more read than ESPN.com and I have long thought that was a very misleading stat, because of the fantasy sports.

I know. It is one of the greatest lines of bull**** in the history of lines of bull****.
Every fall, they will have more Sports views than anyone.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

What? A company that produces nothing, manufactures nothing, and creates nothing has to lay off its employees? You're kidding.

 

[anonymousprick]

They didn't come anywhere near beating ESPN until they beefed up their staff and made original content their focal point. Sports is the one area of their company generating any sort of positive buzz and it isn't going to get touched.

 

[fishwrapper]

What? A company that produces nothing, manufactures nothing, and creates nothing has to lay off its employees? You're kidding.

Well, that's a bit unfair. I didn't want that to happen. On the sports side, there are some great journalists who have been in the profession for decades.
Their work shouldn't be questioned.

 

[Moderator1]

The Pipeline is told sports will not be affected.