Yahoo to cut 1600 jobs by the end of 2016

Yahoo Inc Chief Executive Marissa Mayer announced that Yahoo will cut 15 percent of its workforce by the end of 2016, about 1,600 jobs, and entertain "strategic proposals" for its future, an indication that the company is open to selling itself to a suitor. It's been a rocky road for Yahoo and for Mayer, who has been under growing pressure from shareholders to revitalize the company or sell it outright. Mayer said Tuesday that the company's plan streamlines the business while focusing on mobile and video ad products. But it also involves cost-cutting, beyond the job reductions, Yahoo said that it would close five of its global offices -- in Dubai, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Madrid and Milan. By next year, its full-time workforce is expected to be roughly 9,000 employees, down 42 percent since 2012.
The company had announced in December that Yahoo would spin out its core business to separate it from its valuable stake in the Chinese firm Alibaba. But that move also makes the core business easier to sell.
"The Board is committed to the turnaround efforts of the management team and supportive of the plan announced today," Maynard Webb, Yahoo's board chairman, said in a statement. "In addition to continuing work on the reverse spin, which we've discussed previously, we will engage on qualified strategic proposals."
The company also reported better-than-expected revenue of more than $1 billion in sales. Most analysts had forecast the company to report revenue of $948.7 million -- Yahoo has not reported less than $1 billion in revenue since 2004. Ahead of its earnings report, shares were down 33 percent from the same time last year. The stock dropped nearly 2 percent in regular trading Tuesday to close at $29.06. It slid about 3 percent in after-hours trading.
Yahoo has struggled to expand its Internet business, which includes selling search and display ads on its news and sports sites and email service, in the face of competition from Alphabet Inc's Google unit and Facebook Inc, the Washington Post reports.