Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer (Jason Alden/Bloomberg)
The cuts are coming at Yahoo.
Everyone's favorite struggling web portal is shutting down a large number of its content verticals, according to various reports later confirmed by Yahoo. In a blog post, Yahoo's global editor in chief Martha Nelson said the company would refocus on its four most successful verticals: News, Sports, Finance and Lifestyle.
"To that end, today we will begin phasing out the following Digital Magazines: Yahoo Food, Yahoo Health, Yahoo Parenting, Yahoo Makers, Yahoo Travel, Yahoo Autos and Yahoo Real Estate," she writes. Politico Media reports that Yahoo Tech, although not listed, is ending as well.
This moves Yahoo away from some of the content areas CEO Marissa Mayer has invested in most heavily. For example, in October 2013, Yahoo Mayer poached prominent technology reviewer David Pogue from The New York Times to launch the new "Yahoo Tech" site. The site eventually averaged more than 10 million unique visitors per month. Pogue will be shuffled, along with some other reporters from the other sites, into the remaining Yahoo News division, and tech editor-in-chief Dan Tynan has left the company, according to Politico.
This move was not a surprise to Yahoo-watchers. When the company reported its fourth-quarter earnings results last month, it announced "an aggressive strategic plan to simplify the company, narrowing its focus on areas of strength to better fuel growth, drive revenue and increase efficiency in 2016 and beyond." Yahoo said it would cut 15% of its workforce, about 1,700 employees and close five of its global offices to reduce expenses by $400 million annually.
Mayer also alluded to today's news in her call with investors at that time. She said "some digital magazines will have content consolidated."
Read more about Yahoo's ongoing troubles in the FORBES feature story "The Last Days Of Marissa Mayer?"
