According to a report from Axios, Yahoo, the Bay Area tech conglomerate owned by Apollo Global Management, plans to reduce its workforce by 20% by the end of this year.
This will include cutting 1,000 employees this week and shutting down parts of its ad tech business. The final 8% of layoffs will occur by the end of 2023.
Yahoo has been trying to compete with search and ad tech giants like Google and Meta with its unified ad platform but is now shutting down its ad sales operation and partnering with Taboola to sell ads on its properties.
CEO Jim Lanzone explained that the moves are meant to simplify and strengthen the good parts of the business while sunsetting the rest. More than 50% of the Yahoo ad tech unit’s current staff are expected to lose their jobs.
The company did not immediately respond to requests for comment and details on employee severance packages. The number of impacted employees based in the Bay Area needs to be clarified. The company still maintains a large office in SoMa despite selling off its Sunnyvale headquarters in 2019 to Google and selling off another large chunk of space in San Jose to TikTok’s parent company ByteDance.
What is yahoo?
Yahoo is an American web services provider that was one of the internet pioneers in the 1990s.
The company was founded in 1994 and became one of the most popular websites in the world, offering services such as email, search engine, news, and finance. However, over the years, Yahoo has faced numerous challenges, including competition from other tech companies and struggles to remain profitable.
In 2017, Yahoo was acquired by Verizon Communications and is currently, in 2023, a further 90% owned by private-equity giant Apollo Global Management.
What is Apollo Global Management?
Apollo Global Management is a private equity firm specialising in leveraged buyouts, distressed asset investments, and corporate restructuring. The firm was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in New York City.
Apollo manages investments in various industries, including media, real estate, and financial services. The firm is known for its focus on distressed assets and has made significant investments in companies that have faced financial difficulties or undergone bankruptcies. Apollo is one of the largest private equity firms in the world, with over $450 billion in assets under management as of 2023.
Why is yahoo no more a market-dominant player?
Yahoo was once a dominant player in the search engine and online advertising space, but it has struggled to keep up with the rapid pace of innovation and competition in the tech industry. Google, which entered the market around the same time as Yahoo, quickly became the dominant search engine and advertising platform, leaving Yahoo struggling to compete.
