Jerry’s Memo

December 10, 2008 – 11:17 am

Jerry Yang’s memo to Yahoo employees about the December ‘08 layoff:

yahoos,



today, most of our layoffs in the US are happening, and they’ve been underway in other regions around the world. 



this is a tough time for all of us and i wanted to take a moment to reach out to you.
 


saying goodbye to colleagues and friends is never easy. they all are dedicated members of our yahoo! family, who worked beside us and shared our passion. 



but as you all know, we must take actions to better perform in today’s turbulent global economy. while we’ve found efficiencies in many parts of our business, laying off employees is unfortunately unavoidable. our difficult decision to let colleagues go reflects the changes we’re having to make to better align costs with revenues – something businesses in virtually every sector are also having to do. 
 


for those who are affected by these layoffs, i am extremely grateful for your contributions to yahoo!. we realize the impact this will have on you. that’s why, consistent with our past practices, we’re making every effort to support you with severance packages and other services. 
 

the reductions we’re making are very hard, but they are also very necessary — as we focus on the long-term health of our business. to those who are leaving us, i extend my heartfelt thanks on behalf of yahoos everywhere — you will be missed.



thanks,
 

jerry

http://ycorpblog.com/


The Axe is (finally) falling!

December 10, 2008 – 11:01 am

Yeah, you read it right — The Big Purple Y! is finally running their layoffs, almost three months after they hire “Bobs” to cut staff (and of course denying anything of the sort would happen).

Stories:

http://valleywag.com/5106184/yahoos-secret-layoff-doublespeak-revealed

http://valleywag.com/5106683/jerry-yangs-incompetent-layoff-memo

http://valleywag.com/5106644/the-long-goodbye


Yahoo Hires Two Bobs, and will Layoff 15% of its Workforce

September 23, 2008 – 12:03 pm

After dumping money onto the consulting company Bain (you know, the two “Bobs” from Office Space?), and denying it was to confirm layoffs (who doesn’t hire Bain to confirm layoffs?), Yahoo’s now going to layoff 15% of its workforce.


Icahn: Yahoo! Twists and Distorts Facts

July 14, 2008 – 12:38 pm

Carl Icahn:

Over the years I have attempted to make changes at many companies but I have yet to see a company distort, omit, and twist events and facts in the manner that Yahoo! has done in their press release issued Saturday night, July 12th.

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jul2008/tc20080714_030021.htm


Yahoo Employee emails Fortune to tell it like it is

July 1, 2008 – 6:40 am

Yahoo re-org: A view from the ranks (Fortune.com)

“Our new org chart shows absolutely no changes at the top. We can’t get our stock price anywhere near what Microsoft (MSFT) offered. The new reorg had one objective: personal power plays or internal politics. We lost a few executives after we announced the end of all discussions with Microsoft — a lack of confidence in our own prospects. We lose market share in search to Google (GOOG) every month and we lose market share in pageviews to social networks. As for the Google deal, nothing indicates a job well done better than outsourcing your own job to the competition. After all, it is not as if we had sold the entire search team to another company for a premium price…”