Tragedy in Sunnyvale as Layoffs Grip Yahoo
The last 24 hours have likely been the darkest in the history of Yahoo! Inc. as the company fired 1000 employees, some deserving, some who deserved a better chance. The company’s decision to fire just over 7% of its workforce was pretty much a requirement as the company attempts to transition to more profitable systems and a leaner, more productive and accountable workforce.
News of the layoffs and those laid off spread like wildfire thanks to social services like Twitter and Techmeme. We heard of Ryan Kuder, who Twitter’d every step of the way, from nervous trepidation, to getting the call, to clearing out his desk, having his computer and badge confiscated, replacing his company cell phone, and celebrating unemployment with a giant margaritas at Chevy’s.
We watched Susan Mernit talk about her last day, knowing full well that she’s one of those who will be in high demand from dozens of other companies. We watched Salim Ismail, head of Yahoo Brickhouse, get fired and then try to claim he chose this and was a lucky man, followed by the inevitably more honest and emotional response from Valleywag (to paraphrase, “Go to hell and don’t even think of coming back”). And we saw Randy Farmer, supposedly an architect of Yahoo’s comeback, lose his job anyway, a confusing and self-defeating turn of events.
No doubt, there are Yahoo who badly deserved this, and no one is sad to see them go. A floundering company like Yahoo is filled with some employees who collect a paycheck, talk a lot of bull, and do nothing but consume company resources. However, the majority of those who lost their jobs were just regular folk doing regular jobs trying to support their families, and that is the tragedy of the day.
Often, companies do a round of layoffs in order to boost the stock price and earn a decent profit for board members at the expense of the average worker. Yahoo certainly can’t be accused of that, as Wall Street barely touched the stock today, due to its already inflated price caused by Microsoft’s offer to buy the company.
It’s hard to see this happen and not want Microsoft to buy Yahoo immediately. This company is bleeding, and Microsoft is offering a very expensive tourniquet. Sure, a lot of people will get fired if Microsoft buys it, too, but at least it’ll be a colder and more sensible integration and redundancy layoff round, and not the firing of good people because of management’s missteps and mistakes.
No one wants to see this happen again, but who honestly believes that there won’t be a round two if nothing drastic changes?
At least Google did okay. A smart Bradley Horowitz, head of Yahoo’s Advanced Technology Division, jumped from the sinking ship to join the Goog. Bradley will reportedly work on OpenSocial, and should be a huge asset for Google.
