Comments on: Could Rumored Yahoo Layoffs Have an Unwanted Effect on the Company’s Brand?

By: Jayson

Jayson — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 22:36:30 +0000

As I was watching the news about this I was thinking about the negative ramifications about such a decision. Either way, if Yahoo has to lay 2500 employees of to save thousands of other jobs and ultimately the biz than it’s something that has to be done.

By: Dean

Dean — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 14:38:35 +0000

@ Andy – and when it does come back and bite it, Wall Street will just ask for more layoffs

…The music goes round and round and comes out here…

By: Alan Johnson

Alan Johnson — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 21:13:02 +0000

Sure, there may be some short-term gains as a result of their “approach”, but they will just have to live with the consequences of their decision in the long run.

Alan Johnson

By: Andy Beal

Andy Beal — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 20:54:46 +0000

@Dean – very true, but its the short-sightedness that might come back to bite it.

By: Dean

Dean — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 20:50:53 +0000

Unfortunately, once you go public you no longer make decisions, Wall Street does. Those decisions stem from quarterly results – Forget about a bad year, if you have a bad quarter Wall Street will ask for heads on a plate, cost cutting, layoffs, etc.

Wall Street doesn’t care about “tomorrow”. Wall Street doesn’t care about “people” Wall Street doesn’t care about what the affected employees might say. Wall Street doesn’t care about public perception. The only thing that makes Wall Street lose sleep is being a penny lower than expectations – and if Jerry Yang has a problem with that, he’ll be one of the 2,500 without a job.

If Yahoo! stands pat Wall Street will crucify it. If Yahoo! lays off 1,000 Wall Street will grumble. If Yahoo! lays of 2,500 Wall Street will be happy and reward Yahoo with a bump in stock price.

Not saying I don’t agree with you Andy, just saying that Wall Street is a short-sighted, cold-hearted mo-fo, and unfortuantely it calls the shots.

By: Todd

Todd — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 18:36:17 +0000

I think most of these concerns are unfounded. As a former Yahoo! who’s been laid off there before (and came back once, then left again on my own accord) it probably won’t cause that huge a backlash in the blogosphere. Most Yahoos think the company is FUBAR anyway and could probably use some pruning.

The fact is, Yahoo! got too big too fast and the time to cut has come and gone so many times it will feel cathartic to everyone involved and/or watching if they just finally do it already for Pete’s sake.