Yahoo to lay-off 1,700, may not affect Research Park

Brenton Tse | Photo editor

Don Gerard, Mayor of Champaign, signs a shovel during the Yahoo! Groundbreaking event at the IHotel on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2014

By Lilly Mashayek
February 4, 2016

Yahoo will be laying off about 1,700 workers but it is unclear whether the University’s Research Park location will be affected by the cuts.

The layoffs stem from efforts by Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer to overhaul the company after the company’s shrinking profit-margin.

Yahoo’s Research Park location is currently working on two major projects, both involving cloud computing.

According to a report from U.S. News & World Report, Yahoo will close offices in Dubai, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Madrid and Milan as well as media sites. The aim of the closures is to cut annual operating costs by $400 million.

Mayer is also looking to grow Yahoo as a mobile media company and has discussed the possibility of selling the company’s “non-strategic assets” to bring in $1 billion.

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When asked if the layoffs would affect the University’s Yahoo location, Laura Bleill, Research Park associate director said, “we are not aware of any impact at this time, but that remains to be seen.”

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