Yahoo on Wednesday confirmed plans to lay off more than 2,000 employees as part of new cost-cutting efforts. The Internet giant currently employs approximately 14,000 full-time workers and several thousand more contractors. The workforce reductions will be spread across a number of units within Yahoo including its product division, local business unit, marketing division and research and development division. “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!. “Unfortunately, reaching that goal requires the tough decision to eliminate positions. We deeply value our people and all they’ve contributed to Yahoo!.” Yahoo plans further cuts in the coming months, and the company’s full statement on the layoffs follows below.

Yahoo! Statement

SUNNYVALE, Calif. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — Yahoo! today confirmed that it is taking important next steps to reshape the company for the future.

“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!. “Unfortunately, reaching that goal requires the tough decision to eliminate positions. We deeply value our people and all they’ve contributed to Yahoo!.”

Yahoo! has a solid foundation — nearly 700 million users and thousands of advertisers that engage with Yahoo! properties regularly and trust the company with their data and their business. Through its restructuring efforts, Yahoo! intends to grow by responding more quickly to customer needs and competing more effectively in areas where it can win. Yahoo! has identified key parts of the business — a select group of core businesses, the platforms that support those core businesses, and the data that drives deep personalization for users and ROI for advertisers — where the company will intensify efforts and redeploy resources globally, all focused on increasing shareholder value. With a clear focus on profitability and growth, the company will be disciplined in its investments and radically simplify how it builds, launches and maintains many of its properties and products.

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.

Yahoo! expects to realize approximately $375 million of annualized savings upon completion of all employee transitions. The company currently expects to recognize the majority of an estimated $125 to $145 million pretax cash charge relating to employee severance in its second quarter financial results. The company may incur additional charges in connection with this action. More information will be provided about Yahoo!’s future direction in conjunction with the release of its first quarter financial results on April 17, 2012.

Nokia Siemens Networks recently announced that it will cut as many as 1,200 jobs in Finland and lay off another 2,900 workers in Germany as it begins to restructure the company. Both Nokia and Siemens originally tried to sell the joint venture, which has struggled to report a profit, but gave up those plans this past summer. The move is expected to save €1 billion per year, Reuters said Tuesday. Nokia Siemens Networks is the second larger maker of phone network equipment in the world behind Ericsson, and the joint venture was originally created to help both Siemens and Nokia better compete on a global scale. Nokia Siemens Networks originally said that it plans to cut as many as 17,000 jobs by 2013. 

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Things aren’t looking so pretty at Sony Ericsson as the handset maker a little while ago posted its fourth-quarter earnings showing a loss of $270 million, pre-tax. Of course, this should come as no surprise to anyone since SE’s earnings reports the past few quarters, six to be exact, were just as disappointing. The company also recently had major layoffs and restructuring the past few months. However, SE is remaining cautiously optimistic for 2010. While other manufacturers are expecting a big rise in the cell phone market in 2010, SE sees things a little more modestly. Since smartphones and high-end devices are Sony Ericsson’s overall weakness right now by comparison to Apple, HTC and BlackBerry, we’re thinking that there is a lot riding on the XPERIA X10 with Android due out very soon.

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Keeping the good times rolling today, Samsung has announced that it will undergo a massive reorginization in an effort to stay afloat during the economic downturn. Among the info it smacked shareholders with this morning, the company will split into two separate divisions: a Digital Media and Communications division that will focus on mobile phones, televisions and other consumer electronics, and a Device Solution division that will handle the component, semiconductor and LCD businesses. Current Samsung Electronics CEO Lee Yoon-woo will retain his title and will head the Device Solution division while Choi Gee-sung, current president of Samsung’s cellphone unit, will head up the Digital Media and Communications division. There will also be another healthy round of musical chairs involving a variety of key roles throughout the company. Samsung is scheduled to announce its Q4 2008 earning on January 23rd and this massive announcement exactly one week prior to the earnings call doesn’t bode well to say the least. Samsung posted a 44 percent drop off in Q3 2008, compared to the same quarter one year prior.

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