Earlier this week, reports indicated that Yahoo was laying off 600 employees. Now, the company has confirmed that it will be cutting Yahoo Buzz, Traffic APIs and other products. Marketers might want to consider the direction Yahoo sites are taking as they plan their online campaigns.
The company stated in an email to the Los Angeles Times that it was making cuts in order to invest more in its "areas of strategic focus," including mobile, local and communications. Many speculate there are more cuts to be announced.
An in-house presentation slide that was leaked by a former Yahoo employee in a tweet (now removed, but with the subsequent thread still in tact), indicated that the company would be eliminating a number of products, including the confirmed Yahoo Buzz. Delcious, Yahoo's popular search-enabled content-sharing platform, was another product mentioned on the slide.
In an official blog post, Yahoo says that Delicious will not be shut down – perhaps good news for marketers with their content on the bookmarking site. It may, however be moved to a "home outside the company." Users can also export their bookmarks now, if they choose.
While this may be a relief to brands that have gained a following on Delicious, the site's new home, as well as other cuts, may be a signal to marketers that the company is struggling to keep up with the competition. (Notably, talks of an AOL-Yahoo merger seem to have slowed down in light of Yahoo's troubles this week.)
Still, marketers may not want to write off Yahoo just yet – it appears to be holding its own in the search market. The latest comScore data indicates that Yahoo nearly maintained its market share with respect to total core searches in November, representing 16.4 percent of total core searches. It also gained shares in the explicit core search market, rising from 18.5 to 19.3 percent of the market.
