This has been one of the more interesting stories to track down. We got word over the weekend that Yahoo is in the process of moving large numbers of engineering jobs within the YOS group to Bangalore. Yahoo PR mostly denies this.
This includes YDN (Yahoo Developer Network, the platform for third party apps to be installed on the Yahoo home page) for the most part. And Yahoo confirms that some California based YDN engineers are being moved to other projects, calling it a “pretty minor internal shift of resources.” But at least two senior engineers were fired outright, we heard (we’re holding the names until Yahoo confirms or denies that).
The YOS (Yahoo Open Strategy) group, run by SVP Jay Rossiter, includes YDN as well as other products aimed at developers like YCW and YQL. The idea, a few years ago, was to counter Facebook platform. Only problem is the third party developers never showed up to the party.
Some of the writing has been on the wall, even in a sea of continued Yahoo defections. Neal Sample, Yahoo’s VP Social Platforms, left earlier this summer. And Cody Simms, previously Head of the Yahoo Developer Network, took a new job at Yahoo outside of Rossiter’s group.
We’re going to try to nail Yahoo down on an actual statement tomorrow.