Rumors of layoffs of up to 16,000 employees at IBM are being fueled by postings on an IBM employee union Website, the Alliance@IBM, part of the Communications Workers of America union. Most of the comments hint of the ax falling around Jan. 22 or 23.

One Jan. 2 posting from "Tipster," who identifies himself/herself as a Security and Exchange Commission employee, said he/she has seen documents filed with the SEC about layoffs that may come Jan. 23. "IBM is not 100 percent sure; but the fact that we have already been notified of these cuts means there's a good chance the layoffs will go through," the posting said.

But other postings indicate that IBM is already making targeted cutbacks. "Cuts happened today in Canada and will continue this week," said one posting on Wednesday from "unluckygrl." And several postings on Tuesday said contract workers were let go in IBM Global Services and "global administration."

The rumors of layoffs at Microsoft aren't quite as rampant. A Wednesday report on MSNBC.com said the software company is more likely to reduce its employee rolls through attrition, hiring freezes and non-renewal of contract employees, even though the story cited a blog post last week that Microsoft was preparing to cut as many as 15,000 jobs.

IBM and Microsoft spokesmen declined to comment on rumors about potential layoffs. In any case, the picture should become clearer later this month when IBM and Microsoft report quarterly earnings. IBM reports its fourth-quarter and year-end financial results on Jan. 20, while Microsoft reports its second-quarter financial results on Jan. 22.