Yahoo to fire 5% employees globally

Internet giant Yahoo! will reduce global workforce by 5 per cent and has reported a 78 per cent decline in net income in the first quarter amid slacking advertising revenues.

The company has posted a net income to $118 million in the first quarter ended March 31, 2009, against $537 million in the corresponding year-ago period.

The revenue decreased by 13 per cent to $1.58 billion in the quarter from $1.81 billion in the year-ago period.

"Yahoo! expects to reduce its number of current employees worldwide by approximately five per cent. The majority of impacted employees are expected to be notified within the next two weeks," the company has said in a statement.

The company has a significant presence in India and has about 1,500 employees in the country. In 2008, Yahoo!'s global headcount was about 15,000.

The company's marketing services revenues from owned and operated sites were $872 million for the first quarter of 2009, a 10 per cent dip from $966 million in the same quarter last year.

"The decrease was driven by a three per cent decline in search advertising revenue and a 13 per cent decline in display advertising," it added.

Yahoo! said, revenues from affiliate sites were $511 million in the latest quarter, a 16 per cent decrease from $606 million for the same period last year.

It was dragged primarily by Yahoo!'s efforts to improve traffic quality and lower revenue per search, it said.

"Yahoo! is not immune to the ongoing economic downturn, but careful cost management in the first quarter allowed our operating cash flow to come in near the high end of our outlook range.

"While we experienced pressure in both display and search advertising in the first quarter, we believe Yahoo! Remains one of the most compelling advertising buys on the Internet," Yahoo! Chief Executive Officer Carol Bartz said.

In its outlook for the second quarter of 2009, Yahoo! said it expects its revenue to be in the range of $1.42 billion to $1.62 billion.

Besides, Yahoo! said Jeff Russakow would join as senior vice president of customer advocacy on April 24. In this role, Russakow would have global responsibility for all of Yahoo!'s customer support functions, including audience, small business, ad operations, and search network quality.

Before joining Yahoo!, Russakow served in executive management roles at Symantec, including leadership of global enterprise support services.

"Jeff has a tremendous track record as a transformational leader, and we are very excited to have him joining Yahoo! in this critical new role," said Bartz.