And Now Here's Jerry Yang With the Weather …
It’s never good news when the standout quote from your company’s quarterly earnings release includes the phrase “We will continue to face head winds this year.” Especially if it’s clear that “head winds” is really just a euphemism for Hurricane Larry and Sergey, which has been mercilessly beating your company into submission for longer than anyone would care to remember.
But according to Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang, “head winds” are what the struggling search outfit is facing as it stumbles, umbrella blown inside-out, into 2008. Said Yang, “While we will continue to face head winds this year, we believe that the moves we are making will help us exit 2008 stronger and more competitive and return to higher levels of operating cash flow growth in 2009.” And with that as preface, Yahoo reported a 23% drop in fourth-quarter profit and announced the “realignment” of 1,000 jobs. It’s not yet clear how many of the 1,000 jobs to be “realigned” will be cut. We’ll find out in February. But 999 sounds about right.
“Rather than across-the-board cuts, we’ll make targeted reductions alongside targeted investment,” Yang said during a conference call with analysts yesterday. “We’re not tinkering around the edges. We’re making necessary decisions to streamline. … This sort of transition takes time. But we have the talent and the strong cash flow it takes to succeed.”
PREVIOUSLY:
- Time to Put Yourself on That Layoff List, Jerry?
- Let’s Open This Up for Questions. Yes, You, the Man in Black With the Large Scythe
- It’s the Great Pumpkin Jerry Yang!
- Raise the Yangtanic!
- Decker Rearranges Chairs on Yangtanic
- Look at It This Way: Now That Yahoo’s an ‘Ecosystem,’ the EPA Can Finally Declare It a Superfund Site
(Fail illustration with apologies to Uncov)
