Yahoo also joined the layoff spree by top tech companies as it aims to slash more than 20 per cent of its total workforce by end of this year in a major restructuring of its ad tech division. The new job cuts will impact more than 50 per cent of Yahoo's ad tech employees, according to the CNN report.
The company’s legacy ad tech division, Yahoo for Business, will be revamped and transformed into a new division called Yahoo Advertising, the report cited a Yahoo spokesperson as saying. “The company plans to cut nearly 50 per cent of the division this year, including nearly 1,000 employees this week,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
“These decisions are never easy, but we believe these changes will simplify and strengthen our advertising business for the long run, while enabling Yahoo to deliver better value to our customers and partners,” the spokesperson said.
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Axios, the US online publication that was the first to report about the layoff, said the job cuts will impact more than 1,600 people in total.
In an interview Yahoo CEO Jim Lanzone told Axios said these changes will be “tremendously beneficial for the profitability of Yahoo overall,” and will allow the company “to go on offense” and invest more in other parts of its business that are profitable.
The announcement comes amid the growing number of layoffs in tech and media companies which are aiming to cut costs to tackle the pullback in digital advertising spend on the back of uncertainty in the global economy.
Walt Disney on Thursday announced slashing 7,000 jobs as part of a major restructuring by CEO Bob Iger which is aimed at saving $5.5 billion in costs and making its streaming business profitable. The layoffs under the recently reinstated CEO comprise an estimated 3.6 per cent of Disney's global workforce, reported news agency Reuters. Shares of Disney climbed 4.7 percent to $117.22 in after-hours trading.