Yahoo slashes 14 percent of its workforce

By msnbc.com staff and news wires

In a long-anticipated move, struggling Internet giant Yahoo said Wednesday that it would be cutting 2,000 jobs, or about 14? percent, of its workforce.??

The move is part of a major restructuring of the company, Yahoo said in a statement. The cuts announced Wednesday represent 14 percent of the 14,100 workers employed by Yahoo, which is based in Sunnyvale, Calif.

"Today, the company will begin the process of informing employees about these changes. As part of that effort, approximately 2,000 people will be notified of job elimination or phased transition," the statement said.

The company declined to comment on severance details.

"Today's actions are an important next step toward a bold, new Yahoo! ? smaller, nimbler, more profitable and better equipped to innovate as fast as our customers and our industry require. We are intensifying our efforts on our core businesses and redeploying resources to our most urgent priorities. Our goal is to get back to our core purpose ? putting our users and advertisers first ? and we are moving aggressively to achieve that goal," said

Scott Thompson , CEO of Yahoo.

The layoffs come as Yahoo's revenue declines amid competition from Web rivals Google Inc and Facebook, and as the company fights a proxy battle with hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb.

Loeb, who runs Third Point, is seeking to appoint four new directors to Yahoo's board. Third Point, with a 5.8 percent stake in Yahoo, is the company's largest shareholder.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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