Whatever factors are contributing to the recent U.S. job growth, Yahoo's clearly not one of them, as the firm announced on Wednesday that it was cutting 2,000 jobs, or 14 percent of its workforce.

The layoffs had been expected, and CEO Scott Thompson had the kind of hopeful-sounding statement you tend to hear from the head of a company going through a big reorganization: "Today's actions are an important next step toward a bold, new Yahoo -- smaller, nimbler, more profitable and better equipped to innovate as fast as our customers and our industry require," he said, according to Reuters. But his words belie the company's financial woes: "The layoffs come as Yahoo's revenue declines amid competition from Web rivals Google Inc and Facebook," Reuters noted. Yahoo's also got a legal fight on its hands, embroiled in a money-sucking spat with Facebook over patent infringement. Meanwhile, you can expect some depressed ex-employees filing out into Sunnyvale this afternoon.

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Adam Martin