Yahoo layoffs hit home today

Venture Beat — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 19:48:22 -0500

There’s nothing innovative about layoffs — especially not how Yahoo has gone about cutting some 1,500 people today. We’ve shied away from covering this depressing news, because we focus on innovation. If you’re hungry for outgoing chief executive Jerry Yang’s cheesy layoff memo and other grisly details, you can read all about it on Techmeme.

But one of my friends was among those 1,500. He’s a talented engineer who came in through one of the web conglomerate’s recent acquisitions.

The silver lining that many people seem to be talking about: A lot of Yahoo employees want to leave. They’re tired of the bureaucracy and the mismanagement, tired of working great products that never seem to get enough attention. Other tech companies are busy hiring them. Despite the recession, Silicon Valley continues to grow.

This seems to fit the description of my friend. No sooner did I mention the news about him on Twitter than an entrepreneur I know pinged me for an introduction.

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Yahoo layoffs hit home today