Not to say there aren't issues with this, but I think there is also something to be said around expectations. If your company is not healthy, perks tend to suffer because at the end of the day, they don't matter if you have to fire everyone. There's a certain type of individual who picks a company based on perks, and when a company is in trouble, you'd much rather have employees that are there for the business and the mission.

Now, that said, this is Silicon Valley. Free food and company phones are table stakes for any company wanting to hire and retain top tech talent. Combined with the fact that these two perks in particular enable improvements in employee productivity, and I think that would be a very dumb move.

Free food is also a great way to transfer value to the employee without it being taxed multiple times over. It's an under-the-counter method of payment.

How many employees believe in Yahoo's mission? What even is their mission?

indeed. what is shameful is about 1-2yrs ago it seems like yahoo was on a hiring (well.. interviewing/recruitment) binge. to be fair, anybody whos been at yahoo for the long haul, or recently hired in should have known it was a risky environment. it's not like investors have been silent

not to mention, there aren't many places for food around 1st and matilda. A starving employee would have lower output.

As Yahoo! spent $450M over 4 years to deliver food catered by Bon Appetit to its workforce, starvation must not be an issue for the employees. (Source: http://www.businessinsider.de/yahoo-shareholder-presentation...)