Yahoo plans major restructuring, layoffs

SAN FRANCISCO - Yahoo's new Chief Executive Officer Scott Thompson is preparing a major restructuring of the company that could result in significant layoffs, local media reported on Monday.

The layoffs "are likely to number in the thousands," technology news site AllThingsD reported, citing multiple sources inside and outside Yahoo.

It said "much of the change, which could be announced as soon as the end of this month, is being aimed at Yahoo's large products organization, as well as other arenas in which the company has lagged in."

On Sunday, Yahoo confirmed that Prabhakar Raghavan, a well- known computer scientist who served as the company's head of Labs and head of strategy, is leaving. According to AllThingsD, the departure came ahead of the possibly deep cuts in Raghavan's division. The report said Raghavan, who has been working at Yahoo for seven years, is going to take a job at Google.

At the end of its last quarterly report, Yahoo has around 14, 100 employees.

Yahoo has been struggling to restore its former glory in recent years. After turning down Microsoft's 48 billion takeover bid in 2008, Yahoo partners with the software giant on internet search and advertising, but the partnership has not lived up to expectations. On the other hand, its search engine rankings have fallen behind Microsoft's Bing last December.

After firing Carol Bartz last September, Yahoo board appointed Thompson as the new CEO in early January. The company's co- founder Jerry Yang, along with four other board members, resigned from the board later that month.