Layoffs

More Cuts At AOL

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You can get the skinny here.  It’s 100 employees being laid off.

What’s most interesting are the cuts to super-popular AIM, which an insider says is basically support staff.  Surely that will be fixed, but my guess is AOL sees AIM as a cash cow and doesn’t plan to do anything new with it.

A good deal of AOL’s activities seems to be seeking to maximize the numbers in profit, so I don’t see any actual plan so much as calculations.  Not sure where this is going to end up.

TAKEAWAYS:

  • AOL is probably going to go for some radical rebranding soon.  OK further radical rebranding – they really aren’t “anything.”
  • AIM will probably survive, but it’ll be just a service that doesn’t really grow.
  • I wouldn’t send a resume to AOL.
  • Bonnie and I?  WAY wrong on AOL in the past.  Just apologizing.

– Steven Savage

3/6/2012: Yahoo Layoffs Coming?

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I’ve been hearing about this story since yesterday: Yahoo is looking at some large layoffs.

Now this won’t surprise anyone because we’ve been waiting for this (while a lesser amount of us have been waiting for them to turn the corner).   Everything I’ve heard suggests a lot of non-tech cuts, dropping some products and lines (which will mean tech cuts) and general structure and focus work.  Considering the hiring of Boston Consulting Group, I’m not surprised.

Takeaways:

  • Duh.
  • This is probably Yahoo’s last chance to get it right.  However they aren’t ditching or selling themselves off, so there’s some plan there, or the vague illusion of one.
  • This may be a slight blow to Silicon Valley, which hasn’t always done well adsorbing layoffs in tough times, but I don’t expect it to be too bad.
  • Yahoo has got to get this right or give up.  Whatever this is, it’s the last chance before just being bought or selling themselves off in pieces.
  • After the layoffs I expect a small uptick in hiring as they replace people they didn’t need to get rid of.  This has the smell of a “more than we need” chance to me.
  • Frankly, I wouldn’t work at Yahoo unless you’re playing contrarian.  I’m not confident enough in their opportunities.
  • Morale at Yahoo has got to be TERRIBLE.

– Steven Savage