• Wired, Tuesday, October 21, 2008 11:30 AM

Woe to those who work at Yahoo. Wired reported late Monday that analysts predict the company will be forced to cut to* about 12,000 employees to stay afloat thanks to the decline in premium display ad sales. Considering the cause, a vast number of those cuts could come from the ad sales department.

The announcement could come as early as today, and the cuts will likely affect several areas. Some suggest employees in search could get the ax -- particularly because of Yahoo's pending outsourcing deal with Google, and the company's large number of employees in search R&D. Most seem to agree that product development is safe.

Either way, at least one analyst says the cuts should have come about six months ago. "Yahoo's problem is it tends not to take radical enough action," said Jeffrey Lindsay, an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., noting that Yahoo laid off 1,000 employees earlier this year but kept hiring. His company suggested last year that Yahoo cut a total of about 2,500 jobs.

*Editor's Note: This copy was corrected post-publication.

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