Yahoo is to lay off nearly 1 000 people.
The tech giant intends to lay off more than 20 per cent of its 8 600-strong workforce amid a wave of other companies within the same sector – like Meta, Twitter and others – letting go of large swathes of staff.
A representative told BBC News:
“These decisions are never easy, but we believe these changes will simplify and strengthen our advertising business for the long run, while enabling Yahoo to deliver better value to our customers and partners.”
Yahoo – which was purchased by Apollo Global Management for $5 billion in 2021 – explained that the cutbacks would allow them to streamline its mission and focus on its advertising business, Yahoo Advertising.
They added:
“The new division will be called – simply – Yahoo Advertising.
“In redoubling our efforts on the DSP on an omnichannel basis, we will prioritise support for our top global customers and re-launch dedicated ad sales teams towards Yahoo’s owned and operated properties – including Yahoo Finance, Yahoo News, Yahoo Sports and more.”
Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently called letting 11 000 people go one of the “most difficult changes” he had made in the history of the parent company of social media brands like Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
Twitter – when it was taken over by Elon Musk for $44 billion – had its number of employees cut by roughly half in October.