Yahoo brings us The Wire, LEGO-style. Look out for "brick" puns.

[atlanticwire]

Yahoo announced today that it will lay off around 2,000 employees, 14% of its total workforce.

The layoffs, which will reportedly save the company $375 million annually, have reportedly hit Yahoo's product division hardest. The company may announce further layoffs as it goes through a massive reorganization that could see it sell off its advertising technology and search businesses.

"Our goal is to get back to our core purpose – putting our users and advertisers first – and we are moving aggressively to achieve that goal," said newly-appointed Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson in a statement, "Unfortunately, reaching that goal requires the tough decision to eliminate positions. We deeply value our people and all they've contributed to Yahoo."

The move comes as Yahoo is engaged in a major patent lawsuit against Facebook, in which Facebook has just filed a counterclaim.

[geeky-gadgets]

Yahoo is suing Facebook over the social networking site's use of ten patents on common features of the social web.

At issue are features including personalized advertising, friend recommendations, messaging and music apps, and customized news feeds.

Yahoo's complaint alleges that Facebook's massive market share is a result of this group of patents, and that Facebook has repeatedly refused to pay licensing fees to use the patented features. Not only is Yahoo seeking unpaid royalties, they're also looking for triple damages (plus interest) and asking the court to stop Facebook from using the patents until they pay up.

Yahoo partnered up with Facebook back in 2010, integrating Facebook features into its sites, but the relationship between the companies seems to have changed under recently-appointed CEO Scott Thompson.

The company has been in decline, losing key board members like chairman Roy Bostock and co-founder Jerry Yang, and it looks like patent trolling is going to be part of Thompson's rebuilding strategy.

[wired]