SAN FRANCISCO, April 10 (Reuters) – Yahoo Inc Chief
Executive Scott Thompson outlined how the Internet pioneer will
revive itself by putting in place a new structure to sharpen its
focus on users, advertisers and overlooked areas such as
commerce.

The company said last week it would lay off 2,000 people or
14 percent of its workforce, and it set in motion a broad
restructuring.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Facebook will pay $1 billion in cash and stock for Instagram, a 2-year-old photo-sharing application developer, in its largest-ever acquisition just months before the No. 1 social media website is expected to go public.

Even in Silicon Valley, , the acquisition stood out for its steep price for an apps-maker that still lacks any significant revenue sources.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Yahoo Inc’s (YHOO.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) head of products is leaving the company, ahead of a major reorganization aimed to return the struggling Web company to growth.

The departure of Blake Irving, which a Yahoo spokeswoman confirmed, comes after the company announced its deepest job cuts in years earlier this week, with layoffs of 2,000 employees. On Tuesday, Yahoo Chief Executive Scott Thompson will hold an all-staff meeting to brief employees on the company’s new management structure, a source at the company told Reuters earlier this week.

SAN FRANCISCO, April 5 (Reuters) – Yahoo Inc CEO
Scott Thompson will outline his long-term strategy and vision
for the struggling Internet company at an all-hands meeting for
staff next Tuesday, a source at the company told Reuters, days
after Thompson announced the deepest round of job cuts in years.

The company, once a dominant Internet media and search
powerhouse which has seen its growth eclipsed by Google Inc
and Facebook, announced this week it would lay off
2,000 people and set in motion a broad restructuring. It did not
provide details of that plan.

By Alexei Oreskovic

(Reuters) – Google Inc’s chief executive said the company’s fledgling social network, Google+, has scored more than 100 million active users, and he reiterated the Internet search giant’s commitment to making long-term bets.

Larry Page, also co-founder who took over the top job from Eric Schmidt in April 2011, said in a 2012 strategy update that the search giant had made progress revamping Google around key business opportunities.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Google Inc is getting into the eyewear business with a pair of thin wraparound shades that puts the company’s Web services in your face.

The experimental “augmented reality” glasses – from the same team that is developing self-driven cars – can snap photos, initiate videochats and display directions at the sound of a user’s voice.

April 4 (Reuters) – Yahoo Inc said it was laying
off 2,000 employees, signaling a broad shakeup of the company.

“Today’s actions are an important next step toward a bold,
new Yahoo — smaller, nimbler, more profitable and better
equipped to innovate as fast as our customers and our industry
require,” Chief Executive Officer Scott Thompson on Wednesday.
“Our goal is to get back to our core purpose — putting our
users and advertisers first — and we are moving aggressively to
achieve that goal.”

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Even courtroom adversaries can be partners in the nascent online movie rental business.

YouTube announced a movie rental partnership with Paramount Pictures on Wednesday, despite the online video website’s long-running litigation with Paramount parent company Viacom Inc.

SAN FRANCISCO, April 3 (Reuters) – Facebook fired back on
Tuesday in its legal battle with Yahoo by accusing the Web
pioneer of infringing 10 of Facebook’s patents, according to a
court filing.

The counterclaim from Facebook, filed in a San
Francisco federal court, comes after Yahoo a sued
Facebook for patent infringement last month.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Social-networking site Facebook is halting the sale of its shares on secondary markets effective next week as the company prepares to hold its initial public offering in May, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Facebook recently asked firms that arrange trading of its privately held shares to stop doing so, a move intended to reduce churn in its valuation that could complicate matters as it sets an IPO price, according to another person familiar with the matter.