Yahoo to lay off more than 20% of staff : Report

The cuts will impact nearly 50% of Yahoo's ad tech employees by the end of this year, including nearly 1,000 employees this week, the company said.

As part of a significant restructure of its ad tech sector, Yahoo plans to fire more than 20% of its employees as reported by Axios.

By the end of the year, the cuts will affect over 50% of Yahoo's ad tech staff, including nearly 1,000 workers this week, the company claimed.

According to Yahoo, who is owned by private equity firm Apollo Global Management since a $5 billion takeover in 2021, the decision would allow the company to concentrate its efforts and investments on its DSP, or demand-side platform, or primary ad business.

This comes at a time when many advertisers have reduced their marketing budgets in reaction to all-time high inflation rates and ongoing recessionary uncertainties.

Jim Lanzone, the CEO of Yahoo, claimed that strategy shifts rather than financial difficulties led to the layoffs. The report quotes Lanzone as saying that these layoffs will be "very advantageous for the overall profitability of Yahoo." It will enable the organisation to make greater investments in other lucrative business ventures.

It stated that 14% of the company's anticipated employment cutbacks will be made in this phase, with the remaining 8% or more taking place in the second half of the year. Although Lanzone did not provide an exact number of people who would be affected, she did state that more than 50% of the current staff of the ad tech section would be affected.