Sh.itcan City: Zillow, SearchMe, Pandora, Heavy, Hi5 announce layoffs

[mandy]

more info on recent Web 2.0 layoffs here:
http://gigaom.com/2008/10/17/tracking-th...shake-ups/

and here:
http://venturebeat.com/2008/10/16/more-j...y-and-hi5/

It might be time for Pud to resurrect f.uckedcompany.com  tolensmiley:

[bargainbloodhound]

It might be time for Pud to resurrect f.uckedcompany.com

Speaking of Pud, last week AdBrite announced it was laying off 40% of its staff.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/10/16/adb...two-execs/
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10068101-2.html

[rose]

Wikia 10%
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/10/20/wik...workforce/

by now it should be clear that having a business model that depends solely on Google Ads will prove insufficient for many startups to weather the ongoing financial storm and pending recession

[mandy]

[quote author=rose link=topic=18591.msg73037#msg73037 date=1224548902]
Wikia 10%
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/10/20/wik...workforce/

by now it should be clear that having a business model that depends solely on Google Ads will prove insufficient for many startups to weather the ongoing financial storm and pending recession

[/quote]

The lessons learned from the dot com bubble should have taught Web 2.0 startups that ad supported revenue models don't work.  History repeats itself.

[regic]

Yahoo axes 1500, 10% of its workforce

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/bu...989046.ece

[mandy]

[quote author=regic link=topic=18591.msg73058#msg73058 date=1224634082]
Yahoo axes 1500, 10% of its workforce

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/bu...989046.ece
[/quote]

Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang's layoff memo to employees - FYI: During recent budget cuts, Yahoo reportedly banned the use of capitalization in an effort to boost productivity  tolensmiley:

yahoos,

i feel it's important for me to reach out to you after our earnings announcement, and before our all hands meeting tomorrow.

we as a company have been through a tremendously challenging year; and managing the increasingly turbulent global advertising climate has been an important focus for the last three months.

throughout the first three quarters of 2008, we have been balancing between investing in our top priorities, and managing our cost structure.  beginning in september, with the help of Bain & Co., we initiated a series of steps to determine how we can become more efficient and productive as an organization.

we heard from you through the YEES survey, and through your suggestions on backyard, and we've identified many areas that we all feel we can improve upon.  our productivity efforts, based in part on what we heard from you, will involve initiatives such as streamlining our organizational structure through reducing layers and increasing spans of control, and eliminating redundancies.  longer term structural efficiencies include consolidating facilities, improving procurement, and standardizing our global technology platforms.

today as part of our q3 earnings release, we said that our goal is to reduce our current annualized cost run rate of roughly $3.9 billion by more than $400 million before the end of 2008.  we are targeting non-headcount expenses wherever possible, such as facilities and outside services.  however, because compensation expenses are the single largest part of our costs, we anticipate a reduction of at least 10% of our global workforce by year-end.

affected employees will be notified of layoffs in the next several weeks.  we understand that hearing this news now creates uncertainty, but we are moving ahead in a way that balances speed with a clear focus on accomplishing what is necessary to set the organization up for long term success.  going forward it will continue to be important for us to make the right decisions to keep our business efficient and strong.

having layoffs is very difficult, particularly in light of all we've experienced this year.  but we don't take these decisions lightly, and are committed to treating affected employees fairly, offering severance and outplacement services.

the steps we are taking are not easy for us as a company, but as we become more fit as an organization, decision-making will be faster and it will be easier for us all to get more done and stay focused on our strategy. these changes will also prepare us to better deal with the macroeconomic downturn.  as with previous downturns, yahoo! continues to be a place where consumers turn for information and communications, and is an integral part of their internet day.  as the global economy improves in the future, i certainly believe that we will be stronger and benefit from the actions we are taking now.

as always, i thank you for all you do as yahoos.

best,
jerry

[mandy]

Ecommerce provider Mercent: 6 of 50 let go,
Mahalo laid off 10%.

[regic]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/27/techno...f=business

[mandy]

LinkedIn cuts 10%/36 jobs
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10083402-93.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Video sharing site Veoh cuts 20%/20 jobs
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10083380-93.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

[mandy]

More layoffs:

Sun Microsystems 6,000 jobs/18%
Zappos 126 jobs
Oodle 10 jobs/20%
BitTorrent 18 jobs/50%
Jobster 15 jobs/38%
Metacafe 11 jobs/15%
Shopzilla 30 jobs/10%
Six Apart 16 jobs/8%
Tucows 15%