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Yahoo to cut 15 percent jobs, close several units

reuters.com

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Re: Yahoo to cut 15 percent jobs, close several units

#161

Post by lisper »

tptacek wrote: post #152
lisper wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Melissa Marissa > I wonder how easy it'll be for her to find a job Marissa's net worth is well into nine figures. I wouldn't worry about her too much. And she can always run for president as a Republican.

That's a much more fun thing to say than "person tasked with impossible job fails to do the impossible". From the comments on this part of the thread, you'd think Yahoo was some kind of Internet colossus before Mayer took their reins, rather than an overgrown relic kept alive and profitable through sheer inertia.

Impossible? Yahoo had gross income of $4.6B in 2014. That is one hell of a cash flow stream. I find it very hard to believe that turning that into a profitable venture again would violate the laws of either physics or economics.

I think a much more likely explanation is that Marissa failed because she brought no new ideas to the table, and also made a whole bunch of boneheaded blunders like this:

http://gawker.com/5987043/yahoo-ceo-marissa-mayer-installed-...

and this:

http://nypost.com/2016/01/18/marissa-mayers-job-safety-joke-...

while she unashamedly pocketed $36M for her first six months worth of work.

Re: Yahoo to cut 15 percent jobs, close several units

#162

Post by crmd »

vram22 wrote: post #137
huac wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

companies are for shareholders, not workers

>companies are for shareholders, not workers Companies, whether it is admitted by them or not, are really for stake holders, not just shareholders, and stakeholders includes employees; or least, wise companies will act as if that is so, even if it is not so legally on paper.

You can also do it on paper. Make your VC shares subordinate to your employee ISO pool. Talk is cheap ;-)

Re: Yahoo to cut 15 percent jobs, close several units

#163

Post by tptacek »

lisper wrote: post #161
tptacek wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a much more fun thing to say than "person tasked with impossible job fails to do the impossible". From the comments on this part of the thread, you'd think Yahoo was some kind of Internet colossus before Mayer took their reins, rather than an overgrown relic kept alive and profitable through sheer inertia.

Impossible? Yahoo had gross income of $4.6B in 2014. That is one hell of a cash flow stream. I find it very hard to believe that turning that into a profitable venture again would violate the laws of either physics or economics. I think a much more likely explanation is that Marissa failed because she brought no new ideas to the table, and also made a whole bunch of boneheaded blunders like this: http://gawker.com/59…

It had a top-line of 4.6B, but 1.2B in fixed costs and a little over 3B in payroll expenses.

Yahoo's problems have absolutely nothing to do with Mayer having a "nursery" put into her office. She could have taken minimum wage and no other compensation, and no part of this story would have turned out differently, except they might have sold the company by now.

Arguments about Mayer's performance on threads like these are frustrating because the consensus (elsewhere, not here) seems to be that her first order of business should have been a significant layoff. But at this point, now that we have lurid stories about logos, nurseries, and poorly-timed jokes, there's no winning: their core business has been on a downward trajectory since long before she took over, and nobody believes they're appropriately staffed.

Later

For what it's worth, if you look at what I'm saying, nowhere am I claiming that Mayer is a good CEO. But I have doubts as to whether a good CEO could have done much to change the outcome here, except perhaps by fetching a better price at auction for Yahoo.

Re: Yahoo to cut 15 percent jobs, close several units

#164

Post by huac »

vram22 wrote: post #138
crmd wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's one philosophy. The philosophy of my company is that the management team has an ethical responsibility to consider the interests of employees in strategic decision making. I am certain this is the only way to build a healthy long-lived tech company.

Exactly. And the sooner more companies' management as well as workers realize it, the better it will be for all concerned.

i think it's fair (and prudent) to consider workers in strategic vision. on the other hand, to "slowly die while paying the last of its money out to workers" is not reasonable

Re: Yahoo to cut 15 percent jobs, close several units

#165

Post by anotherhacker »

henrikschroder wrote: post #143
nobleach wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's incredibly sad when something like this happens. And I sure hope anyone who's found themselves out of a job, success in finding another. Even the "lower performers" still need to work. What I do hope for Yahoo, is that they're taking a solid look at who they consider expendable. Are self-important big shots also losing their jobs? Or are they too important to fire? When I see any company start to get rid of thei…

Seriously, if you've ever worked at a large company in SV, you should know that the "lavish parties" thing was a completely envy-driven red herring. If you do the math you realize that the holiday party cost a few hundred bucks per attending employee. Compared to other large SV companies - that are not under fire in the press - this was a cheap holiday party.

Lavish parties send the wrong message to employees. If I were CEO I'd say:

"No more parties. We're going to use the to retrain employees (instead of firing them) and avoid layoffs."

Mayer is turing out to be a terrible CEO.

This article describes the various multi-million dollar parties.

http://www.businessinsider.com/yahoo-ceo-marissa-mayer-blows...

Re: Yahoo to cut 15 percent jobs, close several units

#168

Post by gedy »

mythz wrote: post #127

At the dawn of the Internet Yahoo held the Internet's home page, there were so few sites and Search Engines were so primitive that I remember using Yahoo Directory to find websites and for many years `ping yahoo.com` was my magic command to tell whether my modem had an Internet connection. My first Internet account and online alias was at Yahoo, I used mail and their personalized home page every day... But then start…

> `ping yahoo.com`

Haha, I still do this out of habit too.

Re: Yahoo to cut 15 percent jobs, close several units

#169

Post by guelo »

jonknee wrote: post #154
guelo wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yahoo is profitable.

Their operating income has been negative for the first three quarters of 2015 (the 4th quarter numbers come out tomorrow). They could turn the lights off in California and make more money than they do today.

Not by much, they're basically breaking even.

Re: Yahoo to cut 15 percent jobs, close several units

#170

Post by xenihn »

nobleach wrote: post #99
legohead wrote: post #6

So I guess she did mean something when she said, "No layoffs...this week" [1] Brutal. [1] http://nypost.com/2016/01/18/marissa-mayers-job-safety-joke-...

It's incredibly sad when something like this happens. And I sure hope anyone who's found themselves out of a job, success in finding another. Even the "lower performers" still need to work. What I do hope for Yahoo, is that they're taking a solid look at who they consider expendable. Are self-important big shots also losing their jobs? Or are they too important to fire? When I see any company start to get rid of thei…

How many tens of millions is she guaranteed to walk away with again? Does she really need to ever work again? Hell, will her children?
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