After two months on the job, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer finally updated employees on her turnaround plan for the company last week.

One thing she did not mention: layoffs, which had been central to former Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson's plan.

We are told by a source familiar with Mayer's thinking that this does not mean layoffs are off the table at Yahoo.

In fact, you can probably bet they are still on, given that Mayer hired a practiced cost-cutter, Ken Goldman, to be her CFO.

The reason Mayer didn't bring them up at the all hands meeting was because she was trying to set a mood of enthusiasm and positivity that day.

It worked. We hear from several sources that morale at Yahoo hasn't been so high in years. People have had whole careers there and never felt this good.

How many people will Yahoo fire?

When he was CEO, Thompson began, but did not finish, the process of firing 2,000 employees.

At the time, one source inside Yahoo told us that the company should fire as many as 10,000 of its 18,000 full-time and part-time employees.

Silicon Valley venture capitalist Marc Andreessen has also latched onto that figure, publicly recommending Yahoo cut at least that many.

"He's probably right," ex-Yahoo engineer Sriram Krishnan wrote in a blog post, echoing the sentiment of many still at the company.

"I would start with anyone with the title ‘Architect’ or ‘Program Manager’ in their title. HR is probably another good place to look too."