Yahoo is pruning Web links from its Internet search results as it strives to provide more immediate gratification and lure traffic away from Google.

Yahoo previewed some of the changes Tuesday. Weak vitals The world’s largest medical device maker, Medtronic, will cut up to 1,800 employees after its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings plunged 69 percent on slipping sales and charges for streamlining operations.

The Minneapolis company said it earned $250 million, 22 cents a share, down from a year-ago $812 million, 72 cents a share. Revenue slipped 1 percent, to $3.83 billion. Besides reorganizing charges, Medtronic also paid a hefty charge to Johnson & Johnson related to a patent dispute over stents and absorbed costs of buying Corevalve and Ventor.

Depot doings Home Depot posted a 44 percent increase in its first-quarter profit on Tuesday, to $514 million, 30 cents a share. Revenue was down 10 percent, to $16.18 billion, and its stock closed down 5.34 percent, $1.39, at $24.63.

Deeper downturn Japan’s economy contracted at the fastest pace since 1955 as exports plunged and companies slashed production. Japan’s real gross domestic product, or the total value of the nation’s goods and services, shrank at an annual pace of 15.2 percent in the January-March period, the government said Wednesday. Japan’s first-quarter results were markedly worse than those of other major economies, outpacing the euro zone’s 2.5 percent quarterly decline and a 1.6 percent contraction in the U.S.

Rally today AT&T’s union employees will hold an informational rally in Kansas City today as they continue to work without a new contract. Bargaining for nearly 3,000 area members of the Communications Workers of America continues as AT&T’s hourly work force continues working under terms of their previous contract, which expired in early April. The rally will be from noon to 1 p.m. at 800 E. 101st St. in Kansas City. The CWA represents more than 80,000 AT&T workers nationwide who are seeking a new agreement.