Layoffs!

Announcing operating losses in the first three months of 2001, leading Web portal Yahoo! Wednesday said it would cut 12 percent of its workforce, the latest layoffs in the struggling high-tech sector.

Yahoo is streamlining its business to focus on "essential services," centralizing operations and cutting back on marketing, CEO and Chairman Tim Koogle said Wednesday — that means cutting its work force of 3,510 employees by about 420 people.

With Internet advertising revenue drying up, Yahoo posted its second straight net loss — $11.5 million in the first quarter, or 2 cents a share, compared with a profit of $67.6 million, or 11 cents per share, in the comparable period of 2000.

Excluding one-time charges, Yahoo earned $7.6 million in the three-month period ending March 31, or 1 cent per share, beating the break-even results analysts had expected, according to a survey by Thomson Financial/First Call. That figure was lowered last month from 5 cents per share.

Revenue was $180 million, a 22 percent drop from $230.8 million in the first quarter of last year.

Yahoo stock slipped 1 percent or 16 cents to $15.86 a share in regular trading Wednesday, then gained 29 cents or 1.83 percent to $16.15 in after-hours action.

It's been a tough year for Yahoo. Last month, the company announced that Koogle, who has been with the company almost since it started, would step aside as its CEO.

Yahoo's displaced workers will join a legion of Internet workers pink-slipped in recent months. Motorola has said it will cut at least 22,000 jobs.
Intel slashed its workforce by 5,000. Cisco said it will let 8,000 people go.

AOL, Lucent, Nortel and Viacom, parent company of this Web site, have also trimmed payrolls this year.

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