Yahoo Plans to Cut Hundreds of Jobs: Source.

SAN FRANCISCO--Yahoo is planning to announce cutbacks later this month that will likely lead to hundreds of job losses at the nearly 14,000 employee company, a source familiar with the plan said on Monday.

Yahoo spokeswoman Diana Wong declined to comment on a report published on the Silicon Alley Insider blog, which on Saturday said Yahoo has created a list of "1,500-2,500 jobs that may be eliminated in the next two weeks."

The source said the report significantly exaggerated the scale of the potential layoffs, the exact number of which is still being settled, but which will be announced around the time the company reports year-end results on January 29.

"There will be some reductions in the workforce," the source told Reuters. "It would likely be in the hundreds."

Yahoo's workforce stood at close to 14,000 at end-2007, up around 2,600, or 23 percent, from the 11,600 employed a year earlier, according to company filings. The company's headcount had grown 16 percent in 2006 and 29 percent in 2005.

The source said Yahoo expects to end 2008 with the same number it had going into this year -- close to 14,000 -- which would suggest some selective hiring in focus areas offset by cutbacks in other businesses.

Writing on Silicon Valley Insider, former Wall Street analyst Henry Blodget said Yahoo Chief Executive Jerry Yang was still deciding whether to go ahead with the layoffs -- and could pull out of the plan if the stock price rebounded.