Hundreds of Yahoo employees may be laid-off as part of a drive to increase profitability and focus on specific activities within the company. Precisely how many of Yahoo’s roughly 14,000 employees will lose their jobs hasn't been determined, but an announcement is expected when the company reports its fourth-quarter performance next January 29.

The company has begun “a multi-year transformation,” according to a Yahoo Spokesperson, and will reduce or eliminate some business areas in order to focus on its main avenues for growth: improving its search engine, enhancing advertising and opening its technology platform for outside developers. At this point, however, Google has already become synonymous with search and advertising. It’ll be interesting to see what Yahoo plans to do to wrest some market share away from Google.