Yahoo

This morning, 2,000 Yahoo employees will get word they're being laid off. The layoffs “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,”  Yahoo Chief Executive Scott Thompson said in a statement. The cuts at the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company to its 14,100 workforce represents about a 14% reduction that the company estimates will save about $375 million annually after being completed later this year.

Yahoo's latest entry into mobile search hopes to find the Axis of easy with its new iPhone and iPad app plus a desktop plug-in. Yahoo's Axis aims to make search easier, director of product Ethan Batraski told The Times. Search is an inefficient process that has remain unchanged, involving the same three-step process it always has for the last 15 years: Launch a query, get results and then explore results, he said. Axis removes the middle step of a returning search results page of links, instead returning a snapshot of the actual Web page and "turns search into a companion, not a destination," Batraski said.

In today's hyper-speed world of technology entrepreneurship, David C. Bohnett ranks as a grand old man. Bohnett, 55, founded GeoCities, the pioneering social networking company that made his fortune, back in 1994 — virtually Internet prehistory. He took GeoCities public in 1998 and it was sold the following year to Yahoo for more than $3 billion in Yahoo stock. After 10 years of indifferent and shortsighted management, Yahoo consigned GeoCities to the Internet's memory banks by shutting it down in 2009.

Yahoo Inc. is trying to stake a claim on the summer movie season with the launch of Movieland, an interactive online game promoting 35 upcoming big-budget films. Developed with participation from all the major movie studios, Movieland is laid out as a virtual board game, with each square representing a summer film. Users will be able to watch trailers, answer trivia questions, earn and share online badges, buy tickets and win prizes. Ken Fuchs, vice president and head of sports, entertainment and games at Yahoo Media Network, said Movieland "game-ifies moviegoing in an interesting way. It sucks people into an experience.

Yahoo's latest financial results show the Internet company is still losing ground in the battle for online advertising. The fourth-quarter breakdown announced Tuesday is the latest in a succession of ho-hum performances. Yahoo Inc. recently hired former PayPal executive Scott Thompson as CEO in its latest attempt at a turnaround. The company earned $296 million, or 24 cents per share, in the October-to-December period. That is down 5 percent from $312 million, or 24 cents per share, a year earlier.

Yahoo will forge its future without Chairman Roy Bostock and three other board members, the struggling Internet company said. Bostock announced the departures Tuesday in a letter to shareholders, describing the moves as part of Yahoo's turnaround efforts. "The board has concluded that in order to accelerate the Company's transformation, the combination of a new Chief Executive Officer with an enhanced team of independent directors would provide Yahoo with the expertise and perspectives necessary to drive innovation and growth going forward," Bostock said in the letter.

The economy may be recovering, employers may be starting to hire again, but this probably isn't the best time to send your resume to Yahoo. The once-mighty Internet company says it's laying off 2,000 employees, or about 14% of its workers, as the new chief exec, Scott Thompson, attempts a sweeping reinvention of the search giant. Yahoo figures the cuts will save about $375 million annually. This is the company's sixth mass firing in the past four years under three different chief executives.

Yahoo Inc. recently approached Hulu to discuss a possible acquisition of the popular online video service, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Hulu, which streams television shows on the Internet, has been the subject of intense speculation about its future. The company, whose owners include media giants News Corp., Walt Disney Co. and Comcast Corp., has been struggling to find a balance between the desires of consumers to watch shows free online and its owners' interest in protecting the value of their programming.

Yahoo Inc.'s discussions to sell its stake in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and its Japanese operations have reached an impasse, according to a person briefed on the matter. Representatives of Alibaba and Softbank Corp., co-owner of Yahoo Japan Corp., are prepared to approach Yahoo Chief Executive Scott Thompson to explore another arrangement that would let companies buy back their stakes, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. The value of the Asian assets is about $11.5 billion, said Sameet Sinha, an analyst at B. Riley & Co. in San Francisco.

Yahoo Inc. agreed to buy Interclick Inc. for $270 million in cash to help advertisers reach online users with more targeted messages. Yahoo, which has been exploring its strategic options, may use the purchase to revive sales of display advertising, such as banner ads, which stalled last quarter. The deal comes as Yahoo is seeking a chief executive after it fired Carol Bartz in September. The Sunnyvale, Calif., company also has embarked on a strategy review as it grapples with competition from Google Inc. and Facebook Inc. Yahoo is leaning toward selling Asian assets and redistributing the proceeds to shareholders, rather than selling itself to a group of buyers, people familiar with the situation said.

Yahoo Inc.Chief Executive Scott Thompson resigned from the digital media company Sunday after a dissident shareholder called attention to his apparent misrepresentation of his college credentials. Ross Levinsohn, formerly Yahoo's executive vice president of the Americas region, was named interim chief executive, the company said in a statement. The board of directors also named Alfred Amoroso its new chairman. Amoroso, who is chief executive of Santa Clara software company Rovi Corp., replaces Yahoo board member Roy Bostock, the founder and chairman of Sealedge Investments.

Yahoo Inc. Chief Executive Scott Thompson apologized to employees as the fallout from a questionable resume spread to the company's board, with director Patti Hart announcing she would not seek reelection. The Sunnyvale, Calif., company also said Tuesday that it had formed a special three-person committee to conduct a thorough review of Thompson's academic credentials "as well as the facts and circumstances related to the review and disclosure of those credentials" in connection with his CEO appointment.

An activist investor is demanding thatYahoo Inc.fire its new chief executive, Scott Thompson, after the Internet company confirmed that his resume contained misleading information about his education. The Sunnyvale, Calif., company confirmed Thursday that Thompson's credentials, questioned recently by a shareholder, incorrectly stated in a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that he holds a bachelor's degree in computer science from Stonehill College. The company called it an "inadvertent error.

Yahoo Inc.investor Third Point, which is fighting for representation on the Internet company's board, criticized Chief Executive Scott Thompson for inaccuracies in his educational record. Thompson lists a bachelor's degree in computer science from Stonehill College, but the school didn't begin offering such a degree until four years after he graduated, Third Point CEO Daniel Loeb said Thursday in an open letter to the board. Thompson has an accounting degree from the school, Loeb said.

NEW YORK - Yahoo Inc.staged its glitzy presentation for advertisers in a theater near Central Park, with appearances by Katie Couric, "CSI" creator Anthony E. Zuiker and, via video, Tom Hanks. AOL Inc.rented out a three-story production studio in the gentrified Meatpacking District, which it filled with pounding dance tracks as gym-sculpted servers carried trays of beverages and snacks. A series of celebrity-studded presentations concluded with 1970s TV star Marlo Thomas taking the stage as AOL awarded prizes, including a new Ford Mustang convertible.

Troubled Yahoo Inc. had a bit of good news Tuesday, reporting first-quarter earnings that beat Wall Street's estimates despite revenue that was essentially flat. For the three months that ended March 31, Yahoo said profit rose 28% to $286 million, or 23 cents a share, from $223 million, or 17 cents, a year earlier. Income from operations decreased 11% to $169 million. Revenue, meanwhile, increased 1% to $1.2 billion. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected earnings per share of 17 cents and revenue of $1.06 billion.

Yahoo Inc. reported sales on Tuesday that missed analysts' estimates as marketers devoted online advertising spending to rival search websites. Excluding revenue passed on to partner sites, Yahoo had sales of $1.13 billion, the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company said. That compares with the average estimate of $1.16 billion among analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Yahoo is grappling with competition from companies such as Google Inc. and Facebook Inc., which have benefited from gains in market share and user growth.