Though not confirmed, it is speculated that Yahoo will be laying off all ten of its editorial staff.
StopPress contacted Yahoo NZ sales manager Louis Nevin today, however he refused to comment, passing our writer’s details on to Yahoo 7 public relations manager Jessica Faull, who also refused an interview.
Faull sent through a statement from a Yahoo NZ spokesperson, which reads, “Like any business we regularly review our operations to ensure we remain agile, nimble and responsive to market conditions. We are unable to provide any further information about said reviews or resultant changes and have nothing further to share.”
Yeasterday, the NBR broke the story and reported that it understood more editorial would be driven by Yahoo 7, a 50/50 joint venture between Yahoo and Seven West Media.
It is thought that five restructured jobs will be created, and that some of the released editorial staff will be hired in these positions.
In March 2014, Yahoo indicated a major shift in its global content strategy by appointing Katie Couric as its global news anchor, a position in which she is earning a neat packet of US$6 million.
The camera-friendly reporter was brought onboard as part of Yahoo chief executive Marissa Mayer’s push into video—and the move seems to be working, with the Irish Times recently reporting that Couric’s “live and on-demand interviews have generated more than 65 million video views to date, with an average of more than a million live streams per episode in the fourth quarter of 2014.”
Locally, the news has not been as positive. Last year, Nielsen statistics showed that Stuff had overtaken Yahoo in terms of online visitor numbers, with statistics from last October showing that the Fairfax-owned media property received more unique visitors over the course of the month than Yahoo, StopPress reported earlier.
According to the figures, Stuff received 1,509, 0000 visitors while Yahoo sat on 1,498,000, making it the first time that Stuff has ever been ahead of the content aggregator (the NZ Herald was further back with 1,325,000).
Yahoo NZ’s most recent financial return was filed with the Companies Office in May 2014 for the year ending December 31, 2013 and reported a $3.7 million net profit on revenue of $13.4 million. For the year previous, Yahoo NZ made a $3.8 million net profit on $12.5 million revenue, according to NBR.
Last year, Yahoo New Zealand won the Best Website award at the Canon Media Awards.
Commenting on the win, Canon Media Award judges Tony Gillies and Sue Carter said earlier that Yahoo NZ was a clear winner, expertly drawing the user in across desktop, phone and tablet, making it hard to resist the urge to read everything on the page.
“As an aggregator with a small team, Yahoo NZ does a fantastic job of focusing on breaking news and sport, while also running a wide variety of content that people are keen to know, or perhaps should know,” the judges said.
Niven said on the win, “Kiwi digital audiences now expect the best whenever they are online, no matter which device they are using. Yahoo New Zealand has really taken up the challenge to deliver the best content, on whatever device, to all Kiwis across the country and around the world. I’m proud that after seven years in the market we have created significant brand loyalty with our audiences. Over half of all online Kiwis visit Yahoo each month and we have built a reputation for delivering breaking news from across New Zealand and around the world as it happens.”
