Yahoo Layoff News: Yahoo announced Thursday that it plans to lay off more than 20% of its total workforce, affecting about 50% of its ad technical staff by the end of the year. The move is part of the company’s plan to restructure its advertising unit, which it expects will allow it to focus on its core advertising business, the demand-side platform (DSP). The announcement comes amid massive job losses in the tech sector as companies struggle to overcome the impact of record-high inflation and continued economic uncertainty.
CEO Jim Lanzon told the media that the layoffs were not due to financial difficulties but due to changes in the company’s advertising unit. He added that the company is discontinuing a part of its advertising business, supply-side platform (SSP), and its native advertising platform, Gemini. In place of these, the company will use its partnership with Taboola to sell native ads on its platform.
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Yahoo is doubling down on its DSP business and streamlining it to focus on selling premium accounts to Fortune 500 companies. To achieve this, the company will build a premium advertising sales team for its owned-and-operated properties such as Yahoo Sports, Yahoo News, Yahoo Mail and Yahoo Finance. The company expects this new focus to increase the number of advertisers competing for ad placement on Yahoo properties eightfold.
Private equity firm Apollo Global Management to buy Yahoo in 2021 for $5 billion. The company was part of Verizon’s digital advertising platform and its rival AOL, but the dream of creating a unified platform never came to fruition. Under Lanzon’s leadership, the company is now focusing its attention on a new venture that will streamline its advertising business and deliver superior customer value.
questions to ask
1. Why is Yahoo cutting jobs?
The company is cutting jobs as part of its cost cutting drive. It aims to reduce expenses and improve its financial performance.
2. How many employees will be affected by the job cuts?
According to the information received, Yahoo is planning to cut 1000 employees this week. The exact details of job cuts and affected departments are yet to be disclosed.