Yahoo to layoff hundreds of staff to try and catch up

21 January 2008 Ken Yeung View Comments

So have I told you about Twitter? It’s great. I get to find out about the latest news in my industry from folks and one great source of news is Techmeme. Announced today and published in the New York Times, Yahoo has decided to layoff hundreds of their staff in an attempt to save the search engine from crumbling. It’s really sad that the once-proud search engine giant has become complacent in their growth and has now forced them to have their (former) employees bear the consequences.

What could be good about this move is that while Yahoo has been somewhat stagnant, it appears that 2007 and 2008 have become known for a bunch of “start-ups” and entrepreneursÂ appearing in the marketplace. So far, you have YouTube, Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, Mashable, Seesmic, and much more making their marks so it would only be natural for some of the great developers and marketing geniuses at Yahoo who unfortunately will be laid off to expect great things from them…even more than what they’ve already accomplished at the search engine giant. After all, it’s not their fault, but rather the folks in upper management who probably were a little slow in realizing that Google passed them by a few years ago and now there’s nothing new to snatch up that’ll be a good fit for the company.

So in just another year or so, be sure to check the Internet and scope out the latest beta testing from some great applications. It definitely seems weird to say but there’s going to be a silver lining here (hopefully) and this is purely a prediction on what could happen. You have some of the best folks that do Internet development and some may simply decide to become invested in themselves and branch out and create something good. I say go for it and share your knowledge with the world.