Yahoo Employees Will Not Be Microsofted–But They Might Be Laid Off.
How do Yahoo employees feel about the unsolicited bid by Microsoft to acquire the iconic Silicon Valley Internet company?
Well, I could go on and on, but here’s the actual text of an email I got back from an employee at Yahoo when I asked what the mood was among the Yahoo troops. I assumed some might be relieved by the prospect of change at the moribund Internet company.
Wrote the Yahoo: “Actually, based on feedback that I’m getting, and based on internal email lists–not at all. They [are] all screaming: ‘Please, somebody save us.’”
In an earlier email, the same exec had noted: “I know for a fact that a lot people from search and advertising teams are floating their resumes.”
This is an achingly common email I am getting from all over Yahoo–depressed, resigned, a lot of long digital sighs. Most expect to be laid off or leave the company.
By the way, the buzz around Yahoo is that employees expect Yahoo layoffs previously announced to begin next week and expect them to be higher than the 1,000 targeted.
Of course, there’ll be more of that if Microsoft takes over and begins to eliminate redundancies.
As to the employees who need to be retained, another problem is that Microsoft cannot reach out to anyone valuable at this point to try to lock them in.
“Microsoft would really have to load a lot of us up, because there are a lot of options for all of us,” said another exec. “But they might lose a lot of the really great people before they figure out what they need to to.”
Engineers, of course, most of all, which could make for choice pickings for a plethora of Silicon Valley companies.
Of all the issues that Microsoft will face, if they win this battle, turning frowns upside down at Yahoo will likely be job No. 1.
Comments
Hi Kara,
Sounds like the Yahoo-ers you heard from are experiencing some pretty understandable anxiety about the very uncertain situations in which they find themselves. It’s a natural for Yahoo staffers to initially resist, rather than embrace, the kind of change that Microsoft (or any other new overlord) represents. But, as I mention in a post over on HarvardBusiness.org’s Conversation Starter blog, from this kind of turmoil, interesting new opportunities sometimes emerge — especially if you keep your eyes peeled. Whether Microsoft comes back or some other buyer/savior/partner steps in, big changes are coming at Yahoo. People will be a whole lot better off focusing on making the best of that, rather than resisting it — hard as that may be.
Posted by Paul Michelman at February 10th, 2008 at 5:38 am