San Francisco - Yahoo Inc was to announce at least 1,000 job cuts, possibly as early as Tuesday when it releases its quarterly earnings report, two newspapers reported.

The job cuts would be at least as many as the 1,000 jobs axed in January by the internet portal, which is struggling to compete with Google Inc for online advertising dollars, The Wall Street Journal and California's San Jose Mercury News reported, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter.

Yahoo rejected a takeover offer in May from Microsoft Corp, which valued Yahoo at 33 dollars a share. Since then, the company's stock has plummeted and closed at 12.86 dollars at the end of trading Monday.

According to the Bloomberg financial agency, Yahoo, which had 14,300 employees at the end of last year, was considering the job cuts after hiring the consulting firm Bain and Co to review its expenses ahead of a widely expected recession, which was expected to hit internet advertising especially hard as financial institutions, automakers and other businesses reign in their online spending. (dpa)