150 Bangalore staff hit in Yahoo!'s 2,000 cut globally

Yahoo! has let go about 150 employees in Bangalore.

The digital media company has informed the staff about this decision in the last few days. Most of them work in the areas of Search Engine Optimisation, marketing and Yahoo! products.

A few days ago, the company had begun the process of informing the 2,000 employees globally about their job elimination or phased transition.

The decision to send these employees out is part of company's move to about 2,000 employees globally. “Since, India is the most happening place for us, we cannot afford to remove more than this in India. Of the 2,000, we will sever ties with 10-15 per cent,” a Yahoo! representative said.

Yahoo! hopes to save about $375 million annually when it completes the process globally. The severance costs are pegged at about $125 million that will be reflected in second quarter results.

Yahoo! runs huge research and development facility in India for its global operations. Industry sources indicate that this number could be much more.

The company, which has been facing severe competition from rivals such as Google and Facebook, has decided to prune the size of staff as part of an “important next step toward a bold, new Yahoo! – smaller, nimbler, more profitable”.

A Yahoo! statement said it is intensifying efforts on core businesses and redeploying resources to most urgent priorities. “Unfortunately, reaching that goal requires the tough decision to eliminate positions. We deeply value our people and all they've contributed to Yahoo!,” it said.

“Through the restructuring efforts, Yahoo! intends to grow by responding more quickly to customer needs and competing more effectively in areas where it can win,” it said.

(with inputs from Venkatesh Ganesh in Bangalore).

>kurmanath@thehindu.co.in

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