Yahoo! confirms GeoCities layoffs, will take 2Q charge

Yahoo! Inc. said Friday that it completed the acquisition of GeoCities Inc. and will take a $68 million second quarter charge. While 100 GeoCities employees will join the Yahoo! fold, another 200 will be looking for work.

The GeoCities layoffs had been expected according to published reports. Yahoo! doesn't plan any layoffs in relation to its Broadcast.com acquisition. Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) shares moved up 5 5/8 to 139 while GeoCities (Nasdaq: GCTY) picked up 3 1/2 to 93 1/2.

Company officials hailed the marriage of the Internet's most powerful portal and one of the Net's most extensive online community-building sites.

"The combination of GeoCities and Yahoo! will result in enhanced publishing tools and community services for our 60 million users worldwide, and further strengthens Yahoo!'s global leadership position," said COO Jeff Mallett.

In January, Yahoo! said it would shell out $3.56 billion in stock to buy GeoCities in a pooling of interests transaction.

Yahoo! shares moved to a 52-week high of 244 in April after trading at 24 3/4 last May.

GeoCities shares were trading below $20 a share before the merger was announced. The stock then surged to an all-time high of 159 1/4 before regressing in this recent tech selloff.

In April, Yahoo! topped analysts' estimates in its first quarter, earning $25 million, or 11 cents a share, on sales of $86 million.