Last Friday I wrote that Yahoo! Canada was laying off more staff and that it has turned into a ghost town in their office. One reader suggested that I do some fact checking which is a fair request and pretty simple to confirm. Of goes an email to their public relations firm here in Canada who did provide me with the information I was looking for which I can only assume they are getting directly from Yahoo. Over the last year quite a few people have left the company and we’ve written about it here, here and here to name a few, but I was told that Yahoo! does not disclose the number of employees they have or by country and they still have an office in Quebec with employees in Montreal.
Previously Yahoo! Canada was being run my Kerry Munro as General Manager a great guy who had built up a very strong team here in Canada. I did ask their pr firm who is heading up Yahoo! Canada today? I was told that “Matt Idema is vice president, strategy and business management, Yahoo! and country manager, Yahoo! Canada.” I’ve never heard or met Matt so decided to check whether he had a profile on any of the various social networks he is on LinkedIn. According to his profile he does work for Yahoo!, but is in San Francisco.
I’ve never claimed to be Einstein but if the Country Manager is managing operations “virtually” and people are either leaving or being laid off then doesn’t that still make the office here in Canada a ghost town? Very creative name to use on the comment by the way, I did check out the link that was provide to current job listing and none were for Canada. At the end of the day there is a huge opportunity for online advertising in Canada. I can only assume that Matt has been up to Toronto, if not give me a call when you’re in town and we’ll chat I will even introduce you to a few advertisers.
With new leadership running Yahoo! Can they successfully run Yahoo! Canada from their operations in the US?
Founder of Profectio of business sites which includes 
