It’s a blue Christmas for 600 Yahoo! workers receiving layoff notices this holday.
The 4 percent workforce cut follows weeks of speculation about whether a long-running financial funk would spur Yahoo! to trim its payroll before the new year.
It marks the fourth time in three years the Internet company has resorted to mass firings to boost earnings.
The company is under pressure to cut costs because its revenue has risen by less than 2 percent so far this year and Chief Executive Carol Bartz has promised to widen operating profit margins to as much as 24 percent by 2013. The margin stood at about 12 percent through the first nine months of this year.
“[The] changes are part of our ongoing strategy to best position Yahoo! for revenue growth and margin expansion and to support our strategy to deliver differentiated products to the marketplace,” the company said.
Shares fell seven cents to $16.63 yesterday.