Yahoo! Cutbacks Put Pressure ON Katie Couric

Yahoo’s round of cutbacks this week is putting renewed pressure on Katie Couric, the global news anchor who is pulling in $10 million a year.

There was grumbling in the ranks recently, The NY Post reports, as Yahoo axed popular magazine verticals and laid off workers while retaining the high-priced anchor.

For many observers, it was a case of déjà vu. Couric, these people noted, pulled in $15 million a year as the anchor of the “CBS Evening News” — while the Tiffany Network was slashing jobs on its news desk.

Yahoo Editor-in-chief Martha Nelson — who only joined Yahoo in August — swung the ax on Wednesday and chopped underperforming verticals in a number of areas, including food, health, parenting, travel, autos and real estate.

Yahoo Style Editor-in-chief and Executive Creative Officer Joe Zee was retained as part of a newly formed lifestyle group that will join news, finance and sports as the sole surviving verticals. Yahoo Style will continue under the lifestyle banner.

Nelson gave a vote of confidence to Couric on Thursday, saying most of the major Presidential candidates have sat for interviews with Couric — even if the No. 1 prize in the Presidential interview series, Donald Trump, has not.

“Katie Couric brings a unique expertise and audience to Yahoo,” insisted Nelson. “Newsmakers want to talk to Katie. She’s interviewed almost every major presidential candidate in the race, and her video streams have more than doubled in the last year. I expect that trajectory to continue.”

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