Now that even the most stubbornly optimistic Yahoos have had time to digest Jerry Yang's "shape up" memo, layoff rumors are in full swing. The most pessimistic prediction we've heard so far, from an anonymous tipster: 3,500 heads will roll. Plausible?

No, not really. While our Henry Blodget has called on Yahoo to can 3,018 people (that's more than 20% of the workforce), the odds that Yahoo will make cuts on that scale are very low, we're told by people familiar with the company's thinking. But we're also told that another round of layoffs are indeed on the drawing board, prompted by a grim financial forecast.

Q3 results, which will be released in three weeks, should be fine, say people familiar with the company's performance. But the online ad market was already pulling up prior to Wall Street's collapse over the last few weeks, so Q4 and beyond could be scary.

So how many heads will roll? We won't a hazard a guess - yet. But we're happy to hear what you think. Sound off in comments, or if you want to stay anonymous, use our tip box.

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