Yahoo india sacks forty employees

Pink slips have reached India’s tech capital Bangalore with the online giant Yahoo! chopping at least 40 jobs in a single day at its development centre.

The job cuts have come as a shock for the Yahoo! India employees who were given just 30 minutes to exit their workplace. Some of the emotionally distraught employees broke down on receiving the news while others who turned restive called up ET office.

Globally, Yahoo! has unveiled workforce rationalisation putting roughly 1,000 jobs at risk. The reason cited for Wednesday’s axing of jobs was the internal performance measurement index of Yahoo!, called Relative Poor Performers (RPR). Yahoo! India CEO Sharad Sharma and the top management were not available for an interface with the employees. Further, according to sources, Yahoo! has decided to freeze recruitments in India for the time being.

Yahoo! India currently has a total headcount of 1,500 with its R&D operations solely located in Bangalore. The latest job cuts were primarily in the R&D division.Sources said that the job cuts affected up to the mid-manager level across all its segments. The affected people include developers, senior engineers and some of the relatively inexperienced people. Yahoo! India officials were not available for comment.

Yahoo rejects Microsoft's bid

Yahoo Inc on Monday rejected as too low Microsoft Corp's unsolicited takeover offer, currently valued at $42 billion, putting the ball back in the software giant's court to pursue a deal.

In a statement, Yahoo said its board unanimously concluded the proposal was not in the best interests of its shareholders.

The company said the offer "substantially undervalues" its "global brand, large worldwide audience, significant recent investments in advertising platforms and future growth prospects, free cash flow and earnings potential, as well as our substantial unconsolidated investments."

Yahoo added that its board was evaluating all its strategic options.

Microsoft made the half-stock, half-cash offer on February 1. It was originally worth $44.6 billion, or $31 per share -- a 62 percent premium to Yahoo's stock price. Since then, Microsoft shares have fallen, and the deal is now worth $41.5 billion.

Microsoft now must decide whether to sweeten its offer, launch a proxy fight or simply withdraw. Read More>>

Yahoo! Doesn't Have What Microsoft Needs

Microsoft and Yahoo! have a big problem. Online ads are booming, and they are getting left out. Microsoft's online business racked up a loss of $248 million during the quarter ending in December. Yahoo! makes money, but its earnings are slipping fast: Net income fell 23 % to $205.7 million last quarter from $268 million during the year-ago period.

Little wonder Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) bid for Yahoo! (nasdaq: YHOO - news - people ) Friday. While Google (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people ) sucks up the money flowing into online advertising, its two online rivals grow weaker. On Wednesday, Google reported a 17% jump in earnings to $1.21 billion over the year-ago period.

But if search advertising is raining cash down on Google, Microsoft's attempt to fix the problem by buying Yahoo! is like running out into the street and trying to capture some of the downpour with a fork: It's the wrong tool for the job. Call it reverse synergy--both Microsoft and Yahoo! are weak where Google is strong, in search and search advertising. read full story

Is this Bill Gates' last big throw?

Microsoft's proposal to buy internet veteran Yahoo for a whopping $44.6bn (£22.4bn) certainly grabs the attention.

But does it make business sense?

In a way this won't be the Microsoft founder's problem. This summer Mr Gates will leave the company to work full-time on fighting global poverty and diseases like Aids, Malaria and TB.

But the Microsoft managers who have to make it work will be asked whether this is a case of one failing giant trying to prop up another.

The Google factor

Yahoo has been on the ropes for a long time.

Once the top dog of the internet, the company has been haemorrhaging users and money. With advertising income not anywhere near where it should be, Yahoo's share price is stuck in the doldrums.

Last June Yahoo's board chucked out chief executive Terry Semel and brought back co-founder Jerry Yang to recapture the firm's dominance - to little avail. read full story

Yahoo Profits Fall 23%, Cuts 1,000 Jobs

Yahoo on Tuesday said it would cut 1,000 jobs in February, as the Web portal reported that profits fell by 23% in its fiscal fourth quarter.

The company said net income for the quarter ended Dec. 31 fell to $206 million, or 15 cents a share, from $269 million, or 19 cents a share, for the same period a year ago. Contributing to the drop were stock-based compensation and other expenses. Operating income for the quarter plunged 38% to $191 million from $308 million a year ago.

Revenues rose 8% to $1.8 billion from $1.7 billion a year ago. Marketing services, which include online advertising sales, rose by 7% to $1.6 billion from $1.5 billion. Revenues from Yahoo's owned-and-operated sites rose by 23%, while sales on affiliate Web sites increased by 13%.

During a conference call with financial analysts, Yahoo chief executive Jerry Yang announced there would be a "realignment" of 1,000 jobs at the company, which had 14,300 employees as of the end of last year. As a result, the company expected to incur a $20 million to $25 million charge. Some employees would be shifted to other jobs, and the company planned to add people in areas deemed as priorities.

Yang told analysts the company was spending money to change its advertising platform and operations, and expected to exit 2008 stronger and more competitive, and return to higher levels of operating cash flow growth next year. "We're not tinkering around the edges," Yang said. "We're making significant and game-changing investments in Yahoo's future." read full story

Semel out as Yahoo! CEO

Yahoo!, the No. 2 search firm that has struggled in its battle with Google, said Monday that Terry Semel was out as chief executive officer, to be succeeded by Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang.

Susan Decker, who heads a relatively new group that deals with the company's advertisers and publishers, and until recently was also chief financial officer, was promoted to president.

Shares of Yahoo surged 3 percent in heavy trading on Nasdaq Monday as speculation mounted that Semel might step down - and the stock rallied another 4 percent in after-hours trading.

Wall Street seemed to welcome the promotion of Yang since he is viewed as being far more tech-savvy than Semel, who had a background in traditional media before joining Yahoo.

"Hopefully, Jerry still has much of his entrepreneurial zeal. He is much geekier and you really need to be that rare combination of a technologist and a marketer. Is it the perfect choice? I don't know if it's a perfect choice but it's a good choice," said Kevin Lee, executive chairman of Did-it.com a search marketing firm based in New York.

Last week, Semel faced questions from several disappointed investors at the company's annual shareholder meeting about the Yahoo's strategy as well as the fact that Semel, despite only receiving a salary of $1 last year, had a compensation package worth more than $70 million due to stock grants.More>>