Has Yahoo hung up a “for sale” sign on the window? If you ask company chairman Maynard Webb, the answer would be a soft “yes,” following a press statement that said the Silicon Valley Internet giant will “engage on qualified strategic proposals” amid efforts to reverse its failing fortunes. Which is to say that reasonable offers to purchase the business, or parts of it, will be entertained.
CEO Marissa Mayer, the former Google executive who joined Yahoo in 2012, meanwhile, is hopeful that the company can still turn itself around, largely by focusing and improving on its most successful products, including search and mail. “Today, we’re announcing a strategic plan that we strongly believe will enable us to accelerate Yahoo’s transformation,” said Mayer. “This is a strong plan calling for bold shifts in products and in resources.”
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is hopeful that the company can still turn itself around, largely by focusing and improving on its most successful products, including search and mail.
Part of that plan is to further reduce the workforce by 15 percent and shutting down five offices in Dubai, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Madrid, and Milan, resulting in a reduction in annual expenses of $400 million. Operations in growth markets, notably the U.S., Canada, U.K., Germany, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, will remain a priority in the medium to long term. In the same press release, Yahoo said it will also pursue asset sales that could generate $1 billion in cash.
It has been a long fall from grace for the Internet-slash-media firm, which is now too far behind the times to compete in the digital advertising space, where Google and Facebook rule.
Part of Yahoo’s go-forward plan is to reduce the workforce by 15 percent and pursue asset sales that could generate $1 billion in cash.
Last year, it was reported that Yahoo’s editorial staff in the Philippines was laid off in a move to focus on larger markets and profitability. Similar news broke out in neighboring Asian countries like India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam and parts of the Middle East.
In recent months, Yahoo Philippines, which is now handled by an editorial team in Singapore, has become a shell of its former self, existing more as a landing page for news articles from content partners. For me, however, it exists as a reminder of what Yahoo wanted — and failed miserably — to achieve under Marissa Mayer’s leadership: a media company.
Video courtesy of TechCrunch
Image via TechnoBuffalo
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