Yahoo! has set a deadline for improvements in its European operations, according to reports.Toby Coppel, head of the internet firm's European business, told the Financial Times that employees had been challenged to boost the division's performance in its weakest areas by the first quarter of next year.
Those under-par divisions that do not turn around their fortunes by this time will be sold off or closed down, he stated.
Mr Coppel added that he believed the firm's struggle to capture a large share of the European market was a result of the company's initial lack of speed in rolling out cutting edge technology in the region, compared with similar efforts elsewhere in the world.
"In rushing out to market, we built a lot of applications that didn't speak to each other," he commented.
"We didn't have the same resources. We were managing a larger number of legacy products with fewer people than in the US."
Last week, a former Wall Street analyst triggered a surge in Yahoo! shares after suggesting that the firm may be acquired by Microsoft in the future to help it meet goals outlined on Thursday by Kevin Johnson, head of advertising for Microsoft.
Henry Blodget, writing for the Silicon Alley Insider blog, said that Microsoft's aim to increase its share of the search market by a significant proportion could only be achieved if the company bought Yahoo!.
