Struggling Yahoo freezes salaries

SAN FRANCISCO, USA: Internet giant Yahoo, which is passing through a period of struggle, gave a shock to its employees on Friday by announcing a freeze on salary packs, say media reports.

The move would work to curtail costs and improve its presence in the slowing online advertising market.

“The freeze won’t affect Yahoo’s annual bonus program and some workers, including those getting promotions, ” Bloomberg quoted Yahoo spokesman Brad Williams as saying.

He said that Carol Bartz, who took over as chief executive officer this month, was involved in the decision to freeze increases.

The austerity measure marks one of the first cost-cutting actions taken by Yahoo's new chief executive, Carol Bartz, who was hired two weeks ago to engineer a turnaround.

"The executive team decided that providing annual salary increases would not be in the best interests of the company or shareholders," said Yahoo! spokeswoman Kim Rubey.

Bartz, former executive chairwoman of Autodesk Inc., took the reins from Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang, who agreed in November to step down following the weak performance of the company and the aborted takeover bid from Microsoft for nearly $47 billion.

But do you think the tougher measure by the tough-talking new CEO would help the company turn around? Or will it result in a dip in the employee confidence?