Pulitzer Discovers Internet; Yahoo Axes 1500

Insiders at Yahoo say that roughly 1,500 jobs will be eliminated starting tomorrow. This is not exactly “news,” since Kara Swisher, among others, have been forecasting the cuts based on sources inside the company over the past two months. What is not clear yet is whether any major product lines will be eliminated in the process.

There is speculation within Yahoo this afternoon that the gang of senior execs implementing this week’s changes are dividing up the various properties among themselves — prior to the company securing a new CEO to replace co-founder Jerry Yang. This is a common corporate practice during leadership vacuums, of course, and represents yet one more issue that the incoming CEO will have to deal with — quickly and forcefully. Ossified fiefdoms are low-hanging fruit for any “turnaround” expert worth his or her salt.

The New York Times, one day after announcing its home office building will put on the sales block, revealed more details today about how it plans to manage its debt payments. The company’s execs sounded a confident note that they have the cash-flow and cost management challenges well in hand.

“Over the past several years, we have done a great deal to address the changes occurring in our business,” said Janet L. Robinson, president and CEO. “This has included the creation of new products, major cost restructuring, divestitures of traditional businesses, acquisitions of digital properties, and significant development of our online properties.

The Times’ stock continues to trade near historic lows, in the $7+/share range. The company’s market cap sits just above $1 billion and its total borrowing, according to executives, runs to “approximately $400 million.”

Meanwhile, in our “It’s About Time!” category, The Pulitzer Prize Board announced Monday that it will be expanding all of its 14 journalism award categories to include “news organizations that publish only on the Internet.” When I read about this yesterday evening, it reminded me once again of how badly outdated the entire print publishing industry truly has been.

Representatives of a dying breed of companies buying expensive tables at exclusive awards ceremonies, applauding each other (or not) as the winners are introduced… For over a decade, much excellent journalism has been produced online, yet until now, the most prestigious of all the awards boards didn’t even invite online journalists to the party!

Anyone feel like predicting whether any “online-only” publication will actually win a Pulitzer next year? Be our guest.