Yahoo confirms 2,000 job cuts as part of restructuring

Yahoo Inc will eliminate 2,000 jobs, or 15 per cent of its workforce, as part of its new CEO Scott Thompson's massive restructuring of the ailing Internet giant that has lost 91 per cent of its value over the past decade.

Sunnyvale, California-based Yahoo said it would save $375 million annually from the cuts, and will incur a pretax cash charge in the second quarter of $125 million to $145 million.

Announcing the job cuts, Thompson, who took over in January from the outspoken Carol Bartz, said that the moves reflect the goal of ''intensifying our efforts in our core business and redeploying resources to our most urgent priorities.''

Thompson plans to provide more information about his strategy during the company's first-quarter earnings announcement scheduled for 17 April, and analysts feel that the layoffs announced yesterday could be the first of several rounds of job cuts as he reorganises operations in order to make a smaller, nimbler, more profitable company.

''Our goal is to get back to our core purpose - putting our users and advertisers first - and we are moving aggressively to achieve that goal,'' said Thompson in a written statement.

''With a clear focus on profitability and growth, the company will be disciplined in its investments and radically simplify how it builds, launches and maintains many of its properties and products.''