MARS Advertising, a leading shopper marketing advertising agency in Southfield, Mich., has expanded its staff with the addition of four employees. New to the agency’s Southfield office are Jason Unger, vice president, creative director (previously a vice president at Alcone Marketing Group); John Panourgias, assistant general counsel (previously a partner in the law firm of Lipson, Neilson, Cole, Seltzer & Garin PC); Barbara Rocco, senior media planner (previously a media planner at GM Planworks), and Tammi Sanders, manager, talent development (previously a human resource manager at The Home Depot).

Weber Shandwick, a global public relations firms, today announced the promotions of two of its leading digital practitioners. Chris Perry has been appointed executive vice president, Digital Strategy and Operations and James Warren been appointed chief creative officer for Digital. They will both report to Gail Heimann, vice chair of the company.

Kara Swisher predicted in November that the firings would happen December 10, and sources are confirming this to the Silicon Alley Insider. Between 1,500 and 2,000 Yahoo workers are expected to be let go.

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AllThingsDigital snagged a copy of an internal memo from Rob Glaser, RealNetworks’ founder, chairman and CEO, in which he explains the move, which offices it will affect and the company’s plans for the future (which include, incidentally, canceling the company’s holiday party).

Here it is, in part:
Team –

I’m writing to share some important but not happy news.

Today, we’re implementing a reduction in force affecting about 130 employees, representing about 7.5 percent of the company’s work force. This is a world-wide initiative; about one-third will be in Seattle, approximately another third in other U.S. locations, and the rest outside of the U.S. This is roughly proportionate to the overall number of people we have in each region. All divisions are affected in varying degrees.
Many of the reductions are a result of consolidations of operations of companies we’ve acquired in the past year or so that are being integrated with other parts of our business.

We also have looked across the company to integrate similar functions and groups to achieve better efficiency.

Having said that, this is also a reflection of the economy. While our business has not been affected as much as many, we are not immune to what’s going on in the wider economy. In addition to these staff reductions, we’re also tightening our belt in other ways–watching travel expenses even more closely, for instance, and canceling the Seattle HQ holiday party. …

I’ll have more to say at our next company meeting early in 2009. Until then, take care.

Rob

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“Given the state of the economy, I recently decided to jump on board,” Landon told Reuters. “Professional networking is a ‘must do’ during unstable economic times.”
The economic crisis slamming firms across the globe has sparked a spike in usage of professional networks — Xing and LinkedIn are key sites — as people hedge against losing work and laid-off employees seek jobs.
U.S. unemployment hit a new 14-year high in October and according to online job advertising firm Monster, recruitment activity on the Web plunged to its lowest level in nearly three years. Jobless rates are also rising in Europe.
Traffic on the world’s top professional Web networks has surged since the financial crisis started to make headlines, with top player, privately held LinkedIn, notching 25 percent more registrations in September than forecast.
“Nobody has ever seen anything like this before,” said Kevin Eyres, head of LinkedIn’s operations in Europe. “Now we are growing by almost one new user each second.”
Membership on LinkedIn has jumped to more than 31 million from 18 million at the start of the year, growing fastest in the financial services, media, education and technology fields, Eyres said. The firm has not disclosed any financial details.
“Given that a lot of professionals are currently losing or are worried about losing their job, it makes sense that career-focused social networks such as LinkedIn should see a boost in traffic,” said Martin Olausson, director of the digital media strategies unit at research firm Strategy Analytics.
He estimated the size of the online professional social networking market at about $170 million this year.
Professional sites seek to distance themselves from social networks such as Facebook with their more sober approach, and by giving members more control over their profiles.
Richard Evans, director at U.K.-based Sheridan Evans Executive Search, said he has seen a rising number of requests to connect on professional Web networks: these are increasingly about the need for a job.
Sheridan Evans uses both LinkedIn and Xing, but also Paris-headquartered Viadeo and the largest address-book site Plaxo, to identify potential candidates. It has directed many people to their new jobs using such networks, Evans said.
“The recruitment industry in general is being hit hard. In financial services it’s clearly very bad. In construction it’s bad. In retail it’s getting bad,” said Evans, adding a shortage of senior management was supporting the headhunting business.
Already an estimated 150,000 jobs have been lost globally in the financial sector alone, with more widely expected to go in investment banking and trading.
Arun Patre, a 25-year old analyst at a financial consultancy in India, said he has been looking for jobs on LinkedIn: “The economic situation has prompted me to widen my network as you would never know where things might turn lucrative.”
GROWTH VERSUS PROFITS
LinkedIn said it had seen a slight fall in job offers, but no sharp declines, whereas smaller peer, Europe-focused Xing, reported increasing traffic toward job adverts.
But with the downturn hurting the recruitment business and advertising, social networks have struggled to find a balance between sharply rising usage and profitable growth. LinkedIn said last month it would cut 36 jobs — 10 percent of its staff.
Both LinkedIn and Xing offer premium, paid-for services.
Hamburg-based Xing, which has 6.5 million users in total and whose half a million premium users pay 5.95 euros per month for extra services, has also seen a jump in registrations and connections to record levels, and believes the crisis could open opportunities to grow through acquisition.
“The crisis is very beneficial for us. We are debt-free, with over 40 million euros ($50.5 million) in cash, and the prices for competitors are dropping significantly,” said Xing Chief Executive Lars Hinrichs.
Xing, the first online community to offer its shares to the public, is expected to report 2008 sales rising 77 percent to 34.7 million euros, with profits rising even faster, according to a consensus of analysts provided by the company.
“Anecdotal evidence suggests the macro slowdown might even boost subscriber growth and therefore Xing’s core revenue source,” HSBC analyst Dominik Klarmann said in a research note.
LOOKING FOR JOB
The fast-growing phenomenon of social networks has over the years attracted intense interest from investors and companies like Microsoft and News Corp, and earlier this year the largest U.S. cable service provider Comcast bought Plaxo.
Soumitra Dutta, professor at European business school Insead and co-author of a recently published social networking book “Throwing Sheep in the Boardroom,” said new online ties could often lead to someone’s next job.
“Networks are very good examples of weak ties. Traditionally it has been thought that we need strong ties to get jobs, but we often get jobs through weak ties, not strong ties,” Dutta said.
This worked for Bryan Webb, a 57-year old sales manager with a manufacturing company in Canada. It took him a while to build up a network to find a job after he joined LinkedIn, but it paid off last year.
Webb started by sending an application in response to an advert, but later found three people from the firm including the head of operations in his LinkedIn network.
He asked his network friend to pass on a recommendation to a third person, who was connected to the chief at the new firm.
“I still don’t know who it was … but it really made the process smoother and got me the job,” Webb said.

Courtesy of Reuters Group.

Tarmo Virki is a reporter for Reuters.com.

FatTail, an online advertising optimization software shop, has brought Ali Bohra on board as vice president of product management. Prior to FatTail, Bohra was with IAC where he served as director of operations.

WebTrends, a provider of Web analytics and online marketing solutions, has added Jascha Kaykas-Wolff as vice president of marketing. A former WebTrends customer, Kaykas-Wolff now oversees all WebTrends marketing, including overall strategy, branding, demand generation, advertising and public relations. Kaykas-Wolff joins WebTrends from Alvarez & Marsal Business Consulting, LLC, where he served as a director, driving the growth of its eCommerce specialty service line. He previously held several senior management roles at Microsoft.

Time Europe has slashed about 20 staffers, fueling rumors that Time Magazine will begin publishing one international edition instead of four. Salon laid off nine employees, Buzznet let go of 10 and Sezmi has slashed 20 positions.

Yang — who will return to his former role as Chief Yahoo, focusing on strategy and technology — tried to carve an independent strategy for Yahoo and was blamed when Microsoft Corp walked away from an offer to buy the company earlier this year.

Rival Google Inc abandoned a search advertising partnership amid regulatory concerns, and Yang faced a growing chorus of criticism from investors and analysts as Yahoo’s shares nosedived.

Yahoo’s months-long talks with Time Warner Inc about combining with its AOL unit — as yet another way to boost Yahoo’s earnings — have also failed to produce a deal.

“The company is in desperate need of change and this is clearly one way to do it,” said Ross Sandler, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, adding that Microsoft could enter the picture again. “Jerry was the roadblock for the last deal getting done.”

Yang has consistently said that he would sell the company for the right price.

Microsoft declined to comment.

Yahoo shares rose to $11.10 in after-hours trading from their Nasdaq close of $10.63.

The shares are down nearly 65 percent from their 52-week high of $30.25, reached in February, two weeks after Microsoft made its $31-a-share offer public.

Microsoft withdrew its $47.5 billion buyout offer in May after Yahoo rejected the sweetened bid.

Yang, a co-founder of Yahoo, took on the CEO role in June 2007, hoping to strengthen its position as an online consumer brand.

“From founding this company to guiding its growth into a trusted global brand that is indispensable to millions of people, I have always sought to do what is best for our franchise,” Yang said in a statement.

Last month, Yahoo announced it planned to cut at least a tenth of its workforce, or about 1,500 jobs, as corporate brand advertisers scaled back spending on Web marketing promotions amid a global economic downturn.

In an e-mail sent to employees, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, Yang said his decision to step down was taken jointly with Yahoo’s board.

“All of you know that I have always, and will always bleed purple,” Yang wrote, referring to Yahoo’s corporate color.

Yang has been talking with the board, which includes activist investor Carl Icahn, about stepping down since before Google pulled out of the search deal in early November, said a person familiar with the talks.

Icahn did not return a call seeking comment.

CHIEF YAHOO AGAIN

Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock is leading the effort to find a replacement, said Yang, who will continue to serve as a director.

“Jerry was miscast in this CEO role as far as running Yahoo at this point,” said Martin Pyykkonen, an analyst at Wunderlich Securities. “He’s much better off running strategy or technology behind the scenes.”

Pyykkonen said it was a step in the right direction for Yahoo, but warned that a lot depended on the board’s choice to replace Yang.

“Because he’s stepping down doesn’t mean the company is going to magically be wonderful again,” he said.

Yahoo has hired the executive search firm of Heidrick & Struggles to look for both internal and external candidates.

The process could take anywhere between four weeks and 12 weeks, the source said.

Analysts listed several executives as potential candidates for the job, including former AOL chief Jon Miller, News Corp President and Chief Operating Officer Peter Chernin, former eBay Inc Chief Executive Meg Whitman, former Yahoo COO Dan Rosensweig and Yahoo President Sue Decker.

The source familiar with Yang’s talks with the board said Decker, No. 2 at Yahoo, was among the candidates being considered.

Courtesy of Reuters Group.

Anupreeta Das, Gabriel Madway, Jennifer Martinez, and Yinka Adegoke are reporters for Reuters.com.

Thumbplay has cut its staff, but no hard numbers are available. Thumbplay founder and CEO Are Traasdahl blamed the layoffs on the projected “prolonged economic downturn.”

Danielle Bottari has joined MediaVest USA as SVP, director of shopper marketing. Previously, she was a senior executive with Max Custom Media.

Semantic advertising platform Peer39 has hired Heather Joy Draney as its central region sales manager. Draney hails from Clear Channel Online.

Website optimization shop Amadesa has appointed Bob Werkema as vice president of sales. He brings more than 25 years of sales and marketing experience to the table, most recently with IBM’s WebSphere Commerce team.

CitizenHawk has brought Dave Duckwitz on board as CEO. Previously, he was general manager at ValueClick eCommerce.

Kowabunga, a provider of interactive performance-based ad networks and tech platforms, has appointed Richard Howe as its CEO and president. Howe will also serve on Kowabunga’s board. Before this appointment, he was chief marketing/business strategy and M&A officer at the Acxiom Corporation, a global interactive marketing services company.