Verizon's first move with Yahoo is to ditch 2,100 jobs
NEW YORK (AP) — About 2,100 jobs are on the chopping block as Verizon prepares to combine Yahoo and AOL for a digital advertising offensive.
AOL and Yahoo will cut 15 percent of the 14,000 workers they now employ, or about 2,100 jobs, said a person familiar with the matter who requested not to be identified discussing the cuts.
Verizon wants to become a strong third choice for advertisers by adding Yahoo's popular sites and billion users worldwide to its own media business, which includes AOL and Verizon's home-grown go90 video service.
Verizon sees online ads — particularly targeted ads — as a potential new source of growth as the wireless industry fights for U.S. users with lower prices and other discounts.
The combined business, to be called Oath, will expand its news, sports, entertainment, finance and lifestyle coverage.
Armstrong says he wants Oath properties to be a place consumers "come and visit every day" and predicts users growing to 2 billion from 1.3 billion by 2020, with annual revenue of $10 billion to $20 billion from roughly $7 billion today.
Lowell McAdam, CEO of New York-based Verizon, teased last month that this could set the stage for a new streaming video service, competing with the slew of internet-TV services already out there.
[...] AOL and Yahoo together provide a much-smaller No. 3 in the U.S. for advertisers looking to reach lots of people.