Yahoo to cut workforce under Mayer’s revival plan

Yahoo Inc plans to cut its workforce by at least 10 per cent and the process could get underway as early as this month, Business Insider reported, citing sources.

"We are not confirming this rumor or commenting further", Sarah Meron, a spokeswoman for Yahoo told Reuters on today in an e-mail.

The layoffs, expected to affect 1,000 people are set to impact Yahoo's media business, European operations, and platforms-technology group, Business Insider said yesterday.

The move comes after investor Starboard Value LP's letter to Yahoo yesterday mounting pressure on CEO Marissa Mayer and her leadership team and signalling that a proxy battle was in the offing.

With directly saying so the letter suggested that Mayer and her officers needed to go.

The activist investor also held out the threat of shaking up the board if Yahoo's stock continued to suffer.

According to Yahoo spokeswoman Rebecca Neufeld, the company would provide more details on its turnaround plan prior to its fourth-quarter earnings call later this month.

Starboard, which owns 0.75 per cent of Yahoo, had been pushing for changes at the tech company since 2014, and had called for separating its Asian assets and auction off the core business.

Mayer, who took charge three years back is seeking new ways to push up growth and counter competition from rivals even as she is subject to greater investor scrutiny, including how she is handling a valuable stake in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.

''We see a unique moment and opportunity for Yahoo as we move into 2016 to narrow our strategy and focus on fewer products with higher quality to achieve better growth and better results,'' Mayer said on a call with analysts in October.

''We will share the details of this plan in which we aim to delineate our focus, improve our execution, and define our relevance to users at our next earnings release, if not before.''