Yahoo cuts jobs in Bangalore as it downsizes operations

Yahoo has laid off 400 employees at its Yahoo Software Development Centre (SDC), located in Bangalore, to cut costs and seek new areas of growth, the online edition of India Today reported today. The job cuts mostly happened with product teams, with some employees offered positions in the company's Sunnyvale, California, headquarters.

A Yahoo spokeswoman confirming that company consolidated teams in Bangalore, declined to give details, "As we ensure that Yahoo is on a path of sustainable growth, we're looking at ways to achieve greater efficiency, collaboration and innovation across our business. To this effect, we're making some changes to the way we operate in Bangalore leading to consolidation of certain teams into fewer offices. Yahoo will continue to have a presence in India and Bangalore remains an important office."

The firm under chief executive Marissa Mayer was passing through tough times and while the company had added dozens of engineers over the past two years through small acquisitions of teams specialising in emerging areas like mobile apps, its head count had remained largely remained unchanged.

Yahoo's move to consolidate Indian operations, had sparked speculation that it would lay off employees, a number variously put between 400 and 2,000, Hindustan Times reported yesterday.

''We are making some changes in the way we operate in Bangalore leading to consolidation of certain teams into fewer offices,'' said a Yahoo India spokesperson in a statement.

However, no mention had been made of layoffs, which would take effect a month from now on 7 November, with those let go offered between five and 10 months salary as redundancy pay.

The layoffs stem from massive pressure brought on CEO Marissa Mayer by large investors, such as Starboard Value, to cut the bloated cost structure of the company.

Yahoo, which pioneered internet search along with some other now mostly defunct companies, had attempted to revive its fortunes under Mayer, who had been appointed two years ago (See: Yahoo looks to its tormentor Marissa Mayer for succor).

According to NextBigWhat, a website that first reported the layoffs, the company planned to let go 2,000 of its 2,250 employees at its Software Development Center (SDC) in Bangalore.

The redundancies would be the company's biggest as it struggled to retain its competitiveness following a series of senior-level changes.