Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz has come out all guns blazing in her thoughts about the future of Yahoo after the first quarter financial results for 2009 were released. Included in these were some restructuring plans and areas where Yahoo aims to improve upon for the future.
The first quarter results have seen Yahoo’s revenue drop 14% from $1.35 billion to $1.15 billion from the same time last year. Will shareholders be patient enough to wait for a restructuring of the company to take effect?
Yahoo is preparing to lay off over 600 people in an attempt to restructure the company. Bartz was quick to confirm that this wasn’t just staff cutting measure due to the downturn in profits but one that will eventually lead to Yahoo setting up a more dynamic working team. This is all in line with fitting the aims of the company as it moves forward.
Bartz explained how they will concentrate on their core services such as the home page, mail, sports, entertainment and mobile sites, hoping to deliver a “wow experience for Yahoo users.” The staff cuts have been planned are designed so that there will be less people in product management which in the past has led to confusion and inefficiency according to Bartz.
Immediate reaction to this has lead to former Yahoo users commenting on how the company has ruined their site by adding too much in the way of animation and how they need to return to basics. All these extra gimmicks has led to a slow down in the speed of the services that they used to specialise in and made it less user friendly for most people.
From a company that went from doing so many things well to one that has over complicated matters it seems as though some straight talking could be the answer for Yahoo. The company has impressed observers with its new Yahoo Mobile service so they will now be hoping that they can continue with the rest of their services. Bartz confirmed that search was critical to the Yahoo business and that they need to continue to maximise search and display advertising.
If Bartz can implement her philosophy and not rattle too many cages along the way then it could be a move in the right direction for Yahoo. Whether this straight talking turns out to have the right effect will only be seen in future results for the company.
