At a time when people should be decorating their offices in a festive manner, it seems that a large number of Yahoo employees will instead have to carry away their belongings in cardboard boxes.  Multiple sources indicate that Yahoo intends to conduct another round of layoffs in December.

Indeed, it’s almost certain at this point that layoffs will occur.  The big question is how many people will be affected.  Michael Arrington, who broke the story, claimed that 20 percent of Yahoo’s employees – or around 2,500 individuals – will get cut, and he stuck by that figure even after Yahoo called it "misleading and inaccurate."

Kara Swisher, meanwhile, wrote, "[T]he layoffs . . . will be closer to 10 percent and be almost completely centered on the product organization under Chief Product Officer Blake Irving, said sources close to the situation. . . .  That would mean layoffs of about 650, since that part of Yahoo has about 6,500 employees."

So we’ll see what happens.

Either way, though, it looks like the company is preparing to slim down quite a bit.  And although that should save Yahoo some money, investors don’t appear too excited about the idea, given that Yahoo’s stock has fallen 1.58 percent so far today.

In comparison, the Dow and Nasdaq are only down 0.79 percent and 1.03 percent, respectively.