Layoffs

Just a few days after its draconian layoffs, Yahoo! is still feeling the pinch of an angry mob that was p-o'd at being dumped.

The result has been a boon for Valleywag.com, which posted some of the more interesting behind-the-scenes stories among the layoffs.

Best item: Jerry Yang, Yahoo! CEO lined his house with Kevlar before he chopped the legs out from 1,500 workers.

Paramount Pictures, in compliance with parent company Viacom's edict for 7% layoffs, gave some pink slips, Variety reported. But the marketing staffers were given a week respite. Maybe they were scared of marketing staffers gone amok.

Reelz Channel, the start-up cable station that really doesn't do all that much apart from promoting ongoing films, has cut its workforce severely with layoffs of more than 40 people in its L.A. offices, the L.A. Times said today.

The Minnesota-owned station canceled its ongoing industry show, "Dailies." It still employs about 125 workers.

Reelz has been hurt by the company's business plan, the Times said. Unlike a lot of cable channels, Reelz made a strategic decision to depend solely on advertising, and not cable TV subscriber fees, for revenues. The strategy was adopted to encourage cable operators to carry the channel. But the economic downturn is severely crimping advertising spending, leading to an economic crunch at the channel.

Yahoo! in California went through with its quasi-announced layoffs today.

Hundreds of people were shown the door by security guards (1,500 throughout the state; 200 in L.A.), complete with Christmas gifts in their arms and tears in their eyes.

Generally, even though they were being laid off and truly pissed off at Yahoo! management including CEO Jerry Yang, employees were ultra-reluctant to talk to the media.

But a few juicy notations showed up on Twitter. To wit:

Much crying and gasping (as people find out the next person is gone) and many hugs and "good lucks"s about 6 hours ago from web

I got an email which said simply "I need to talk to you about changes to the organization" - for 10:45 am in a conf room about 6 hours ago from web

Many mgrs and jr mgrs gone -- top performers, too about 6 hours ago from web

Count now is way over 25 about 6 hours ago from web

My manager got laid off and so did i, just now -- and at least two others on my team about 6 hours ago from web

Got off elevator, saw coworker, w/backpack, wlking 2 conf rm w/ mgr. they started promptly. people on floor exchanging xmas gifts about 7 hours ago from web

Not pitiful. Just sad.

Sony Corp., either paying the U.S. back for World War II or just being plain recalcitrant, announced cuts of some $1.1 billion with more than 16,000 workers getting dumped, Variety reported today.

Sony made its announcement on Tuesday, just two days after the infamous surprise attack on Pearl Harbor 67 years ago.

Let's hope that's just coincidental.

Yahoo!, via an email from departing CEO Jerry Yang, told its California employees that on Wednesday, as many as 1,500 employees will be tossed, inside sources confided to FBLA.

No details were available regarding the email, but one employee who read it said Yang talked about the need to make cutbacks. This was in keeping with his statement in mid-November that Yahoo! would have to layoff as much as 10% of its global workforce. He targeted Dec. 10 as D-Day for these employees.

In her technology blog All Things Digital, Kara Swisher said Yang had told her in October that layoffs were a distinct possibility and described them as "consolidation and organizational corrections."

"We're asking ourselves -- should we sell it or should we shut it down?" Yang said. "That is the kind of comprehensive look we are doing across the company."

The layoffs, which could ultimately number as high as 2,000, are generally across the board, but human resources will likely take the biggest hit because their expenses are cost-based and most of their costs are staff.

Swisher said employees will be told Wednesday, but FBLA sources saw the email on Monday afternoon. Staff is supposedly allowing for a "normal seperation period," but that could mean that employees will have to exit within a few hours of being told.

Swisher's sources said Yahoo executives are not expecting any serious problems like extremely upset employees because the layoffs have been long in coming. Security will be present, however, at its Sunnyvale headquarters and presumably in Los Angeles.

Most employees do not know if they will be let go yet, Swisher maintained, because the cuts have not yet been made public.

Yahoo! is playing it close to the vest because entire projects might be eliminated and the secrecy allows time to restructure further if necessary.

Swisher conjectures that rumors have surfaced of whole divisions being juggled among the bigger managers presumably to stake out territory before a new CEO is installed.

Meanwhile, Yang has not officially left his slot, though he said last month that he was planning on leaving.