Yahoo said to mull layoffs
Written on October 22, 2008
The Internet portal Yahoo Inc. is weighing additional layoffs as it mulls cost-cutting measures, according to a published report Monday.
Yahoo (YHOO, Fortune 500) was expected to add more job cuts to the 1,000 that it already announced back in January, The Wall Street Journal reported. Since that time, the company has offset the job cuts with new job hires.
The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company is expected to detail its cost-cutting efforts when it announces third-quarter earnings after the closing bell Tuesday.
Earnings expectations are lackluster. A consensus of analysts interviewed by Thomson FirstCall projects a 7% increase in revenues, to $1.37 billion, and a 21% plunge in earnings, to 9 cents per share.
Many investors have lost faith with Yahoo since it rejected a $47.5 billion takeover attempt from Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) back in May payday advance low fees. The company has lost more than 50% of its value since then, with the stock sinking to a 5-1/2 year low last week at $11.37.
Shareholders seem to think that leadership is the problem. At the annual company meeting in August, about 40% of the shareholders opposed the re-election of Chairman Roy Bostock, and 34% wanted to eject Chief Executive and co-founder Jerry Yang from the board.
Microsoft is scheduled to announce third-quarter earnings Thursday, after the close. A consensus of analysts interviewed by Thomson FirstCall projects that revenue will increase 7% to $14.8 billion and earnings will rise 5% to 47 cents per share.
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