Yesterday, after the news of Sun Microsystems hit the newswires, Yahoo also confirmed that it would be again slicing the size of its workforce, this time by 10%, as Yahoo plans to layoff about 1,500 employees on December 10th.
As the faulty economy is starting to hit the Valley in the same way it has hit most of America, these layoffs are happening at a time when Yahoo stocks have hit a major low of below $10 and Yahoo, according to Kara Swisher at AllThingsD, is about $2 billion away from closing a AOL Yahoo merger with Time Warner.
But someone who is not leaving–at least not quite yet, despite the persistent rumors over the last week–is Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang.
As Yahoo’s share has dropped this week to $10 a share, a spate of rumors swirled inside and outside the company about the fate of Yang and also President Sue Decker.
But sources said that neither is leaving the company at this point and both are focused on ongoing plans to improve its fortunes. That includes a possible deal to merge with Time Warner online unit AOL
Will Jerry Yang be able to pull off a merger deal by Christmas and will this 10% of the workforce help Yahoo keep its earnings and build up the company to the point where it can still function, bootstrapped and contracting out the jobs which are now tying them down?
This is yet to be seen. But laying off 10% of the workforce two weeks before the holidays is going to leave a bad taste in the mouths of many.
