Here's Carol Bartz's Internal Layoff Memo to Beleaguered Yahoo Troops

December 15, 2010 at 9:19 am PT

It’s Yahoo, it’s BoomTown and so it’s an internal email memo from CEO Carol Bartz to staff about the employee layoffs at the Silicon Valley Internet giant yesterday.

Here it is:

Yahoos,

I want to share some tough news with you. Today, we began notifying some Yahoos that they will lose their jobs. Most of the reductions will come from the Products org and, when completed, will affect about 4% of the company.

I know this has been rumored for some time. It’s disappointing when things like this leak, and it certainly doesn’t make it any easier for anyone involved. This was a tough call, but a necessary one. We need to make these changes now to ensure that Products is structured and running the way we want as 2011 begins. And that means we need fewer Yahoos in some areas, and different types of Yahoos in others.

There are several reasons for this. First, we’ve found a lot of duplication in work between Products and the regions. Second, it’s no secret that we’re cutting investment in underperforming and non-core products so we can focus on our strengths (like email, the homepage, search, mobile, advertising, content and more). And lastly, we need to get the Products cost-structure in order so it aligns with our development plans for next year and beyond.

You’ve heard me say before that I didn’t come to cut Yahoo! to greatness. That’s still true. This decision is about more than cost savings. The changes are meant to get us into a position so we can invest more in the kind of products and technology we know we need to be successful. The process that begins today–along with Blake’s past org changes and new Products operational plan–helps to get us there.

It’s never easy to say goodbye to Yahoos we know and work with, especially before the holidays. Please know that we’re helping those affected with severance pay and benefits, plus services to help them find other jobs.

One last thing before I go: It’s important to put this in perspective, and remember that we’re making good progress on our turnaround. Margins have expanded. Revenue growth has stabilized after a long period of decelerating trends. Product rollouts are accelerating as we modernize our infrastructure. Our Search alliance with Microsoft continues on schedule, and more.

We’ve got a lot of potential, but there is still a lot of work to be done. Let’s stay focused and not lose sight of that.

Carol

Tagged with: advertising, arrivals departures feature, BoomTown, Carol Bartz, content, development, digital, email, employee, financial, growth, homepage, Industry Moves, internal, Internet, Kara Swisher, layoff, memo, Microsoft, product, revenue, search, Silicon Valley, staff, troops, work force, Yahoo

comments so far. Add yours.

http://www.ratdiary.com spragued

Sad. I’ve never understood why companies carry out layoffs right before the holidays. Especially when fiscal years start in the fall and they know their budgets. Is it because of some tax thing? It must be huge, considering the PR hit they take for it.
Anonymous

I used to agree with you, but now, having just been laid off from Yahoo!, I can see the coming holidays as somewhat of a blessing, having a calm period to gather my thoughts and stake out a new direction in life. It would so much more suck to come back from a peaceful christmas to being instantly laid off while the year was just starting up…
http://twitter.com/408jay Jason Lackey

Sad to see what mismanagement has brought to one of the former titans of the internet.
http://www.ratdiary.com spragued

I can see your point. Start fresh. Best of luck to you.
http://twitter.com/brianpiercy brian piercy

Chin up Yahoos. The economy’s moving in the right direction. It won’t take long for you to be back in the saddle. Enjoy the time off.
http://twitter.com/GregCan Greg Cannon

It’s disappointing that this leaked? You’d prefer to totally blindside people?
http://twitter.com/LetsChatBiz Michael Dossett

Good luck. Make the most of this. I commend your attitude and resolve.
http://pithagora.com fjpoblam

Best wishes from yet another. Gitter done!
Anonymous

I give it a couple months before they get sucked up by Google, and maybe become “Yoogle”. lol

http://www.internet-privacy.edu.tc
Anonymous

Yahoo’s rejection of the Microsoft buyout will be seen forever as one of the worst decisions in the history of tech. It was dumb at the time, and has only gotten dumber.
http://burningbird.net Shelley Powers

Good attitude, and best of luck to you and other employees finding new jobs.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_4XAU2DE7NVK5AVS6GMFO3CLCOU John Smythe

Carol Bartzs is the highest paidCEO at $47.7 million per year, doing nothing for the company and its stock value. Steve Jobs is the lowest paid ceo at $1 and stock value is 43 times since he rejoined the company. Yet Carol doesn’t relinquish a million to save some employees or help innovative new products which will take them past the competition. Anyone see anything wrong here?
Anonymous

Sadly, this email reads more like Carol’s justification of why she should keep her job, instead of suffering she has inflicted on the former employees. Sure, not working for Yahoo! any more might be a relief to some, but not everyone feels that way, and even those who say they are glad to be leave are only half truths because if they would have left long ago if they could. An earlier commentor was spot on with the disgust over Carol calling the leak disappointing, but not the cut itself. As for her last two paragraphs, talk about a disappointing defense of her track record.
http://www.techinch.com/ Matthew

Best of luck to you … I love your outlook! Ex-Yahoo’s, go show the world what you can accomplish!
http://www.facebook.com/christinawlee Christina Lee

Agree. Best of luck ex-Yahoos. With your positive attitude and the knowledge + skills you’ve got, I’ve no doubt that you’ll be successful in your future endeavors. Best wishes!
Anonymous

I’m amazed and thankful for all your nice comments. I thought that was impossible on the internets ;)
http://www.facebook.com/grahambeale Graham Beale

I’d love to see Yahoo! flourish once again…but yearly redundancies and an over reliance on old style internet products such as homepage and mail does nothing to encourage confidence, innovation or new revenue streams. It feels like Yahoo! are sticking rigidly to old style business models..at the mercy of consistent user behaviour in the US.
http://www.twitter.com/stevenkane Steven Kane

maybe they should lay off the Board
http://twitter.com/pishabh pishabh

God Blass
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_Y3RUTTUODZYCZR6BDYRA5I3KIU Peter Jones

@spragued Yahoo’s FY runs Jan-Dec, not Oct-Sept. (Check out the SEC 10K filing.) If you have to make layoffs, it makes sense to do it on 15 Dec since most of the costs (2 weeks severance, etc) will be accrued in the current FY and you start off the new FY fresh. I’m not saying layoffs are fun (lived that movie) but from a business perspective, this approach is sensible.
http://twitter.com/Skavingere Skavinger

Carol Bartz’ letter is load of bollicks.

She’s already an ex-Yahoo and she doesn’t even know it.
Anonymous

Perhaps. But then the worst decision would have been for Microsoft to buy Yahoo…

Jerry Yang saved Microsoft a lot of pain by rejecting the deal.
puma202

this ceo begins paragraphs with an “i”. this reveals a lot about the character of the person. CAROL, carol, carlo, carla carly, CARLY!!!! …fiorina….there is something crustacean about the two ladies….
Anonymous

While I concur about the apparent difference in value brought to the table by Jobs vs Bartz, that $1 thing is a total farce – that’s not Jobs’ total compensation. John Mackey of Whole Foods is a CEO who receives $1 a year in compensation and no stock options, meaning he literally costs the company only $1 a year as a hire.

Jobs owns at least 10 million shares of Apple restricted stock, expenses his taxes to the company and received his own Gulfstream jet in ’99 (maybe it’s been upgraded since?). They pay him, exorbitantly, in fact. The $1 thing is just PR. Fortunately for them, he’s delivered – also exorbitantly, so everyone’s happy.
Anonymous

I interviewed at Yahoo! many years ago…during that interview I told the person interviewing me that I felt the primary issue they had is that if you were to explain what Yahoo! actually was and what they did…you couldn’t do that. They had too many products and services and they were buried under layer after layer of junk. Most people never get past the start page. In fact I didn’t even know half of the stuff they owned or had buried until I had to dig it up before my interview. I was not hired. ;-)

If I were interviewed today…I’d say the same thing…I can’t for the life of me tell you what Yahoo! stands for or does? They’ve had a lot of great assets over the years…and they just bury them. With Email, hosting, Messenger, and Flickr alone…there shouldn’t actually be a Facebook…they had all the tools right there and never bothered to connect the dots. They lack vision and focus…always have. They can’t make up their mind who they think their competition is so they try to be everything for everyone.

I believe Yahoo! is just going to end up sold in the end…pieces will be broken off and sold one by one as they try to stabilize their cash flow…and eventually what little IP and marketing assets they have left will be gobbled by someone like MS.

Regardless…as someone who was laid off in September…I gotta say I really feel for those getting laid off in December…that’s about the crappiest thing you can do. I don’t think this is the only time they’ve done this around the holidays before either.
Anonymous

I love how people at the top can fail and lose money and fire people, and still get a big bonus and big pay. It’s like they live in magical fairyland.
Anonymous

I wonder if she would forgo some of her multi-million dollar paycheck to save a few employees? Tis the season!
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_XJN2COCV2R5AIWTWV7JHQWQ7JQ Lauren Hipschman

Kara, I would like to know how you sleep at night. You have lost all objectivity and integrity and seem to be intent on hurting the good people of Yahoo!…do facts count at all?

Since you seem so intent on broadcasting our confidential information and giving us a constant negative image in the media, I would like to know one thing. Can we leak positive information and accomplishments to you? Will you go so far as to publish that?

Think about this every time you try to dictate to the public that Yahoo! is losing its relevance:

There are 20 times more Yahoo! messenger users worldwide than people who take the NY subway every day, that’s 128 million.
Yahoo! reaches half a billion users, that’s 1 out of every 2 people online.
Yahoo! is number 1 in entertainment news, personals, IM, games, finance, news and sports.
Every day, nearly three times more people visit Yahoo! Finance than their local Starbucks to grab a cup of coffee.

Think we are still irrelevant??? Think again.

Signed,
A Proud Yahoo! Individual Contributor in Products (BTW – we are not shutting down, we are revving up)
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_XJN2COCV2R5AIWTWV7JHQWQ7JQ Lauren Hipschman

Kara, I would like to know how you sleep at night. You have lost all objectivity and integrity and seem to be intent on hurting the good people of Yahoo!…do facts count at all?

Since you seem so intent on broadcasting our confidential information and giving us a constant negative image in the media, I would like to know one thing. Can we leak positive information and accomplishments to you? Will you go so far as to publish that?

Think about this every time you try to dictate to the public that Yahoo! is losing its relevance:

There are 20 times more Yahoo! messenger users worldwide than people who take the NY subway every day, that’s 128 million.
Yahoo! reaches half a billion users, that’s 1 out of every 2 people online.
Yahoo! is number 1 in entertainment news, personals, IM, games, finance, news and sports.
Every day, nearly three times more people visit Yahoo! Finance than their local Starbucks to grab a cup of coffee.

Think we are still irrelevant??? Think again.

Signed,
A Proud Yahoo! Individual Contributor in Products (BTW – we are not shutting down, we are revving up)
http://www.ratdiary.com spragued

Thanks for the info, Peter. Their timing makes more sense, now.
http://profile.typekey.com/rcade/ rcade

Well if Yahoo is number 1 in entertainment news, then that changes everything.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_WYYO6TYXNEQ7LWUSJ4DBQIMQLM LisaH

yahoo mail and homepage are things they do well. i love yahoo mail and homepage. so much better than google. what should they do? abandon the users who need them to help us navigate the internet?
http://blog.cheetahdeals.com CheetahDeals Blog

Yeah i have to agree with LisaH. Homepage is actually very popular. It is “the Internet” for many users. Anecdotally, ofc.
Anonymous

Hmmm. Microsoft would have finally been a success in the content space (like they’ve been trying to do for years) with Flickr and several other Yahoo properties (like Yahoo Finance, which is superior to Google Finance), and they’d have swallowed their #2 competitor in search. It was win/win for Microsoft — gain property while destroying competitor.

It was also win/win for Yahoo *shareholders* because that company will never reach that level again. But there were some downsides for those employed at Yahoo, as most would (rightfully) have been tossed out earlier than they might have been otherwise.

Here's Carol Bartz's Internal Layoff Memo to Beleaguered Yahoo Troops

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