Yahoo to Cut Workforce by 15 Percent, Weigh Asset Sales

FILE - Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer speaks during the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Jan. 7, 2014.

Yahoo will cut about 15 percent of its workforce as part of a strategy to turn the troubled Internet company around.

The long-anticipated purge announced Tuesday will jettison about 1,500 jobs, close some offices worldwide and explore selling some assets.

Yahoo expects that by the end of this year it will have approximately 9,000 employees and fewer than 1,000 contractors. That will result in a workforce that's 42 percent smaller than it was in 2012, according to the company.

CEO Marissa Mayer hopes to sell some of Yahoo's unwanted services for about $1 billion, though she didn't identify which ones.

Yahoo's stock dipped 25 cents to $28.81 in extended trading after details of Mayer's latest turnaround attempt were released.

Yahoo's revenue has been shrinking through most of Mayer's reign, even though she has spent more than $3 billion buying more than 40 companies, while bringing in new talent and developing mobile applications and other services designed to attract more traffic and advertisers.

Yahoo's sluggishness in advertising comes after Internet rivals Facebook and Google topped fourth-quarter earnings expectations, largely on strong growth from their advertising businesses.