Following yesterday's earnings announcement (below), Yahoo co-founder and chief executive Jerry Yang sent staff a memo, which TechCrunch has reproduced in full. It announces the aim to cut costs, with Yang saying: "because compensation expenses are the single largest part of our costs, we anticipate a reduction of at least 10% of our global workforce by year-end."
affected employees will be notified of layoffs in the next several weeks. we understand that hearing this news now creates uncertainty, but we are moving ahead in a way that balances speed with a clear focus on accomplishing what is necessary to set the organization up for long term success. going forward it will continue to be important for us to make the right decisions to keep our business efficient and strong.
Around 1,500 Yahoo staff must now await their pink slips, and I know I'd find it annoying to be fired by someone who can't use capital letters to start sentences. Doesn't Jerry know that Microsoft Word will capitalise sentences automatically? Does he save a fantastic amount of time and energy by ignoring the shift key in vi? Wouldn't he save even more energy by getting his secretary to type memos, or is that not the sort of thing efficient and strong businesses leaders do nowadays?
For someone who is clearly smart and well educated, it looks like an affectation.
Which is not to say that "the guardian" isn't afflicted with some of the same silly affectations, of course, but we don't expect them from the CEO.
