Yahoo cutting 20% of workforce, adding to growing layoff woes

Yahoo is the latest in a mounting number of tech firms to slash jobs

Yahoo, Inc. is the latest company added to a mounting pile of tech firms implementing layoffs, as a new report Thursday revealed its plans to let go more than a fifth of its employees.

Top executives at the firm made the announcement to Axios, revealing the that company looks to slash its workforce by over 20% as part of a major restructuring of its advertising unit. That segment of the business will see its payroll cut by half with upwards of 1,600 people affected.

Yahoo headquarters

Regional headquarters of Internet company Yahoo in the Silicon Valley town of Sunnyvale, California.  (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images / Getty Images)

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YHQ NO DATA AVAILABLE - - -

Yahoo CEO Jim Lanzone emphasized to the outlet that the layoffs are not a result of company-wide financial challenges, but instead are a strategic move aimed at turning the firm's lagging Yahoo for Business ad unit profitable.

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The company is the latest in a string of major firms to announce layoffs in recent months, following Disney, which announced the day before that it would slash its workforce by 7,000 in its own restructuring.

The Walt Disney Company logo on floor of NYSE

The Walt Disney Co. logo appears on a screen above the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.  (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File / AP Images)

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DIS THE WALT DISNEY CO. 114.72 +0.46 +0.40%

Although the labor market remains healthy according to the latest government data, Big Tech has seen a significant purge over the past year, with more than 200,000 jobs cut in the industry since the beginning of 2022. 

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The trend has sparked growing fears that tech layoffs will spread to other industries.

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Yahoo has been added to the growing list of tech firms announcing layoffs in the thousands (iStock / iStock)

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
AMZN AMAZON.COM INC. 198.38 -4.50 -2.22%
GOOG ALPHABET INC. 169.24 -8.09 -4.56%
MSFT MICROSOFT CORP. 412.87 -1.79 -0.43%
PYPL PAYPAL HOLDINGS INC. 85.85 +1.03 +1.21%

Since the start of 2023, several major tech firms have announced layoffs in the thousands, including Amazon, Google parent Alphabet, Microsoft and PayPal.

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FOX Business' Megan Henney contributed to this report.