Operation Toblerone: Yahoo Closing London Offices; Geneva Will Be Euro HQs; 70 Managers Told To Move
Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO), which had been threatening its European operations for the last year to shape up or they would be shipped out, has done just that: it is moving its European headquarters from London to Switzerland, with 70 of its top managers in the UK told to relocate or lose their jobs, reports FT. The move, nicknamed Operation Toblerone, was made for corporate tax reasons, the story says citing a source.
Yahoo’s managers in London got an e-mail telling them they had 30 days to decide whether to relocate to the new HQs in Rolle, near Geneva, or lose their jobs. Yahoo employs about 700 people in the UK. This will be an 18-month process, the company says.
London being crazily expensive these days, this move does not come as a surprise. Google (NSDQ: GOOG), which has large commercial operations in London, recently chose to base its European engineering headquarters in Zurich and in 2006 Electronic Arts (NSDQ: ERTS) moved its European headquarters from outside London to Geneva.
AP: Yahoo said 5 percent of its European work force will be involved in the move. A spokeswoman declined to say how many staff Yahoo has in Europe and whether the move will result in job losses elsewhere.
The company has been looking to sell off its comparison shopping site Kelkoo, and has said it could shut down other European operations if the economics of running them don’t improve. Also, I wouldn’t be surprised if Toby Coppel, who was appointed the European head last year, leaves during or after this transition…no inside knowledge, just an informed guess on my part.
Update: Yahoo’s press people later told us (in September) that there’s no project called “Operation Toblerone”, the London office is not closing though Geneva will become the European HQ, and there was no emailed ultimatum to staff.
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Comments (0)
Mar 13, 2008 5:44 PM
Wow, a lot of companies are moving their offices to switzerland lately. I wonder why other countries do not lower taxes to keep them.
Mar 13, 2008 9:32 PM
Note to self: when projects are named after chocolate bars be sure to compare the home origin of said confectionery with possible office relocation. eeek.
Toblerone = Switzerland.
Ghirardelli = San Francisco
Cadbury = Birmingham, UK
Ferrero Rocher = Italy
Mar 14, 2008 6:28 AM
How can you quote the FT source and then fail to correctly quote the nickname of the project? This is very poorly researched and written.
Mar 14, 2008 11:15 AM
Tom
Now FT corrected it to call Project Yodel…when I read it yesterday afternoon here, the story called is Project Toblerone. It would have been nice it FT had a correction mechanism which showed what the previous version of the story was.
Mar 14, 2008 5:27 PM
Yahoo’s European HQ is actually in Dublin in Ireland yes Yahoo was getting all the Irish tax brakes. The management team flys into Dublin every month for meetings to satisfy Irish tax law then they fly back to the Plush office in London.
Mar 18, 2008 9:55 AM
So are Yahoo still going to actually have London offices?
Apr 20, 2008 7:17 PM
after eating part of a “Toblerone”, i can’t see why anyone is worried anymore - it tastes like cheap “Herschey’s” chocolate. and that doesn’t mean to say that i don’t appreciate “Godiva” (made in Belgium only) or “Fry’s” Turkish Delight (still good after decades).
Nov 21, 2008 11:06 AM
Huh??? Toblerone tastes like cheap Herschey’s?? Are u kidding? Herschey is so gross… just sugar and fat! Perfect for midwestern americans… but not for me!!
Nov 25, 2008 11:23 AM
Yeah hate paying tax myself, we pay tax and people who sit idle get support. I don`t understand the logic.