Yahoo planning to lay off 1000s, sources say

Internet company Yahoo Inc. is planning a round of layoffs as part of a major restructuring effort designed to get the company back on track after losing market share to rivals like Facebook Inc. and Google Inc., All Things D reported. Sources inside and outside the company told All Things D that Yahoo will likely shed thousands of employees.

The areas that are expected to lose staff include Yahoo’s large products organization, public relations and marketing, research, marginal businesses and flagging regional efforts, All Things D reported.

Firings could begin in a few weeks, a source told Bloomberg Businessweek.

Yahoo fell behind Facebook in US display advertising in 2011, slipping to 11 percent of the market last year, Bloomberg Businessweek reported. In 2008, Yahoo led the pack with 18 percent of US display ads.

The Sunnyvale, Calif.-company has been conducting a strategic review of its business since it fired its last CEO, Carol Bartz, in Sept. 2011, the Los Angeles Times reported.

More from GlobalPost: Scott Thompson to head up Yahoo Inc.

“We need to innovate and disrupt, and not just in the areas where we’ve always been,” CEO Scott Thompson said on a conference call with analysts on Jan. 24, Bloomberg Businessweek reported. “We will consider new business models and revenue sources and we will build on our core technology and platform expertise.”

Yahoo responded to the layoff rumors with an emailed statement today, the LA Times reported. "As we have indicated, our leadership is engaged in a process that will generate significant strategic change at Yahoo, but final decisions have not yet been made at this point,” the company stated. “Beyond that, we will not comment.”

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