Looks like our tipster (and other peoples' tipsters, too) were correct: Yahoo seems ready to embark on another slim-down round. At least that's the way we read Jerry's latest all-hands memo, sent out yesterday, where he announces that he's hired consultants from Bain to help the company "get fit as an organization...". Valleywag has the complete text, but here's the graf Yahoos will care about the most:

i know that yahoo! can benefit greatly from more discipline among all departments and functions, across the company. longer term, getting fit now will enable us to be more successful moving forward.

Some Yahoos we've talked to insist that the memo isn't worrisome, because Jerry never uses words like "cuts" or "layoffs" anywhere. And we suppose it is possible that Bain's shape-up tips will be heavy on cardio work and squats, and won't result in mass firings. And while we're looking on the sort-of-bright-side -- if there is an AOL deal in the works, all bets are off, anyway.

But we have yet to hear of a workplace where people are happier after the consultants show up, and we can't imagine anyone but the most delusional Yahoos really think otherwise. So we figure the sanguine attitude we're getting from Sunnyvale is just a coping mechanism, now used reflexively after being beaten up almost daily for the past several years.

See Also: Layoffs At Yahoo? eBay? Everywhere?