Yahoo! warns of job cuts as Q1 figures are released

Yahoo! warns it could cut 5% of its global workforce despite posting pre-tax profits of nearly $80 million in the first quarter of 2009.

Yahoo!’s chief executive Carol Bartz said the company “is not immune to the ongoing economic downturn” when she unveiled the search engine’s financial results last night.

Last October, the company announced it would cut one-tenth of its workforce but Yahoo! has insisted that the new round of redundancies are not in response to market conditions, but follow Bartz’s review into the firm’s operations.

“While we experienced pressure in both display and search advertising in the first quarter, we believe Yahoo! remains one of the most compelling advertising buys on the Internet,” Bartz said.

Yahoo! said its revenues for quarter one 2009 have declined by 8% compared with the first quarter in 2008 – globally, the company posted revenues of $1.58 billion in Q1 2009.

Marketing services revenues from Yahoo!’s owned and operated sites fell 10% year on year to $872 million, which Yahoo! attributed to a 3% decline in search advertising revenue and a 13% decline in display ad revenue.

Marketing services revenue from affiliate sites was down 16% year on year to $511 million in Q1 2009.