Yahoo hires McKinsey to help reorganise company

Yahoo has appointed management consulting firm, McKinsey & Company, to help it decide which units it needs to sell, close down and invest more in. The reorganisation comes as the spinoff of its Alibaba Group asset nears completion.

The move is part of a series of efforts by Yahoo's CEO, Marissa Mayer to turnaround the company, something which she has been trying to do for more than three years, according to Re/code. Under Mayer, Yahoo has been trying to revive its core business of media and online advertising.

It has been spending a lot of money to get more users on its websites. However, there has been very little progress.

Troubles for Yahoo

The Sunnyvale, California headquartered company reported revenues of $1bn (£662m, €930m) for the third quarter, after deducting fees paid to partner websites. This is lower than the $1.09bn it earned in the same quarter last year. Also, for the current fourth quarter, the company has forecast much lower revenues of between $920m and $960m.

It has been reported that Mayer had asked its senior staff to make commitments to Yahoo, either in written form or verbally, that they will remain in the company for the next three to five years. However, this seems to have backfired as many top executives such as European boss Dawn Airey, marketing and media head Kathy Savitt and development chief Jackie Reses quit the company recently.

Apart from these, Yahoo insiders expect at least two people reporting directly to Mayer will be leaving the company soon. Mayer, in an effort to revive the company, has been focusing on a new product, which will act as a one stop mobile search. The project, called Project Index, is being led by Yahoo search head Enrique Muñoz Torres.

McKinsey, will determine the amount of resources each division will receive. The consulting firm has been meeting with several top executives at Yahoo to determine how to organise the company's core businesses going forward.