Blodget is at it again. And this time, I’m going to take him at his word. Or his undisclosed source, to be more specific.
This evening, the Silicon Alley Insider pundit has revealed that Yahoo!’s CEO is not going to be walking with such light feet through the halls over in Sunnyvale, California. While many newspapers recently reported estimates of expected layoffs only running in the hundreds, an unnamed source allegedly “close to Yahoo!” reports that J. Yang is bringing down a bigger hammer than has been widely rumored. One that will likely affect anywhere between 1,500 to 2,500 individuals on the Web giant’s payroll when all is said and done. Blodget says the snitch (my translation, not Henry’s) believes the final list of names bound to be painted pink in the coming weeks will be finalized this weekend.
This isn’t great news, of course. Layoffs are almost never dealt with smiles and good cheer. And the greater the number, the nastier the immediate fallout. But we’re all aware of what needs to be done. CEO Jerry should show some conviction, follow through with the plan, swallow the temporary bitterness that will inevitably come, and move forward.
On a separate but slightly related note, I wish to say that I’m hugely frustrated by many media outlets (both old and new) which either consciously or unconsciously neglect to reference Yahoo! by its true title: Yahoo!. Notice the exclamation point. Yes, that’s part of the name. Don’t believe, go to Yahoo.com. Really, go ahead. Scroll down to the very bottom. Now, how exactly does the site copy read?