Yahoo's 1,000 layoffs begin, along with a possible rush to Google

Even before Microsoft offered its buyout bid, Yahoo acknowledged plans to lay off about 1,000 workers. Now, those layoffs are under way, regardless of Microsoft's acquisition hopes, with pink slips being handed to the leaders of Brickhouse and Yahoo Personals, among others.

The head of Yahoo's Advanced Technology Division, Bradley Horowitz, has accepted a job with Google, signaling the possible start of a rush of Yahoo employees to the company's main rival.

Many other folks with Yahoo experience on their resumes will be looking for work, too, since a number of Yahoo luminaries -- including Salim Ismael and Susan Mernit -- have already made it known they're pink-slipped.

At Yahoo, Horowitz, a graduate of the MIT Media Lab, oversaw products such as KickStart, the recently launched Yahoo Live, and Brickhouse.

Meanwhile, the 1,000-or-so layoffs that Yahoo promised before the Microsoft buyout bid have now begun in earnest. Ismail, who led Brickhouse, has reportedly said that he's voluntarily accepting a layoff package from Yahoo. Brickhouse folds in products such as Bravo Nation and Pipes.

Menit writes in her blog that she's gotten the heave-ho as head of Yahoo Personals.

"Well, the law of continuous revolution just gave me a good shove. Today is my last day at Yahoo, and the start of something new," according to Mernit. "What? No idea, yet."

She's also using her blog post to seek out information about short- and long-term consulting opportunities along with "real gigs."

Ryan Kuder, another pink-slipped Yahoo-er, Twittered a running log of his last hours at Yahoo.

"Y! layoffs today, I'm "impacted." I'm heading into work to pack my desk, get my severance paperwork and hand in my badge," he wrote.

Other former Yahoo staffers now reportedly with pink slips in their hands include Randy Farmer and Chip Morningstar, both credited with toiling on a "secret plan" formulated by Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang to "save" Yahoo.

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