Marissa Mayer Gives Yahoo a 'Cool' Makeover

With Marissa Mayer at the helm for just two weeks, Yahoo is already looking more and more like her old workplace, Google: more "collaborative and cool," writes Kara Swisher at AllThingsD. That means some fresh perks for workers, most notable among them, free food in the company's URLs Cafe. (To date, only coffee drinks have been gratis.) Just like Google, the company is now having weekly all-hands meetings on Friday afternoons. Yahoo offices are getting a remodel, and its stores are, in Swisher's words, "upgrading swag."

The free food "might be just a small thing, but people are thrilled," says one Yahoo worker. Its excellent treatment of employees has been key to Google's "always sunny" workplace, Swisher notes, in stark contrast to Yahoo's layoffs and management troubles. Meanwhile, Mayer is heavily focused on improving the company's products, her area of expertise—from Flickr to search. "This is the sound of Yahoo becoming a technology company again," says an insider. "It will be all about platforms and products." (More Marissa Mayer stories.)