LA VISTA, Neb. — Yahoo Inc. says it will invest at least $100 million in a new data center in La Vista and a new customer service center in west Omaha, creating at least 100 jobs and possibly hundreds more.

The announcement Friday from the Internet company and Nebraska officials comes just days after Yahoo said it would cut at least 1,500 workers elsewhere as it deals with the economic downturn.

Earlier this year, Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo applied for state tax breaks available in Nebraska to help set up some operations in La Vista. The customer service center will be in west Omaha, Gov. Dave Heineman said, probably at the First National Bank business park near Boys Town.

According to news reports, Yahoo's data center operations will be in the former Tender Heart Treasures building at 10917 Harry Watanabe Parkway.   The company purchased the building in September for $14.8 million. The 300,000-square-foot building sits on 24.3 acres near 108th Street and Giles Road.

“Isn’t this a breath of fresh air?” asked Omaha Mayor Mike Fahey considering all the bad news in the economy.

Given state tax incentives, within seven years Yahoo will have to invest at least $10 million and create at least 100 jobs. In return, it will receive incentives including sales tax refunds on capital purchases and some property and payroll tax breaks.

“Ultimately, it’s going to be hundreds of jobs,” Heineman said.

Earlier this week Yahoo announced that it would cut 10 percent of its employees, or 1,500 people, citing a 64 percent drop in its third-quarter profit.

Asked about the creation of new jobs while other employees were being let go, Kevin Timmons, Yahoo’s vice president of operations, said the company’s infrastructure needs to continue to grow.

Both he and the governor characterized the Omaha and La Vista operations as “mission-critical facilities,” and Timmons said in the case of the data center, the jobs couldn’t be outsourced.

Timmons had high praise for Heineman, both cities and the state’s Department of Economic Development, which worked for months to persuade the company to locate in the state.

“It looked as though you folks had done this 100 times before,” Timmons said.

Especially important, Yahoo officials said, was the so-called Nebraska Advantage program, which was changed during this year’s legislative session to allow Internet Web portal companies to qualify for business incentives.

Yahoo last laid off workers in February — about 1,000 people. But Yahoo’s payroll returned to the previous level within months.

The company said it is preparing for a deep downturn well into 2009 by trimming $400 million from its annual expenses of $3.9 billion. Besides eliminating those 1,500 workers during the next two months, Yahoo may close some U.S. offices and assign more jobs to lower-paid contractors in other countries.

Yahoo shares were down more than 5 percent in late trading Friday.

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