Yahoo chief executive Marissa Mayer is expected to announce the layoffs and restructuring after the company announces fourth-quarter results Tuesday, according to the Reuters news service, which cited a report from the Wall Street Journal newspaper.
Reuters did not specify what units were expected to be closed.
A Yahoo spokeswoman told Reuters that the company could not comment before releasing its quarterly earnings.
But some of the company’s activist investors are known to have been pushing Yahoo to sell its Internet business rather than spin it off despite negative tax consequences, Reuters said.
Starboard Value LP even spoke out against Mayer and her leadership team last month and implied that they should be dismissed, Reuters said.
Yahoo’s revenues have fallen slightly since Mayer became CEO in 2012 and its share of U.S. web searches has been flat, despite her efforts to turn the company around.
Yahoo had 11,000 employees as of June 30, down from 12,500 in Dec. 2014.
The company has struggled to regain market share against other web giants such as Google and Facebook, which it competes against in search and display advertising, Reuters said.
Even if no management changes are forthcoming, further cost-cutting should make Yahoo more attractive as a takeover target.
Verizon Communications Inc. has expressed interest in buying Yahoo if it were put up for sale, and other media and equity companies are expected to be in the bidding, Reuters said.
Yahoo confirmed last week that it was closing offices in Argentina and Mexico, but said those offices were small and “sales-focused,” Reuters said.
Yahoo shares fell 1.2 percent to $29.14 in afternoon trading on Monday, and have lost about a third of their value since last year.
