Marissa Mayer Bought A Funeral Home

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer's latest acquisition isn't an aqui-hire or a billion dollar bet on a social network.

With a small portion of her massive personal fortune, Mayer bought a funeral home on October 7.

Sue Dremann of the Palo Alto Weekly reports Mayer bought Palo Alto's oldest mortuary, Roller & Hapgood & Tinney.

The building, on a 1.16 acre lot, is a block east of Mayer's house.

This is what it looks like:

Dremann doesn't know why Mayer bought the home.

Maybe it's because the lot was recently identified by the city as a suitable place for an apartment building, and Mayer didn't want to see one go up.

Maybe she plans to build a new house there. The lot is bigger than the .3 acres her current, 5,600-square foot house sits on. Also, it's nearer to an elementary school.

Mayer famously likes to throw huge Halloween parties. Maybe she's really getting into it this year? A funeral home would be a pretty good setting for such a thing.

Some Palo Alto residents wonder if Mayer is planning to do what Google CEO Larry Page is doing with his own house in Palo Alto.

Page, who lives on Waverly Street, has acquired several lots and is constructing a massive, walled-off complex.

Neighbors wish he could be more like the late Steve Jobs, who owned a relatively modest Palo Alto house, and could be seen working at home by walkers-by.

It's weird. Because of all these billionaires trying to live normal lives, Palo Alto is a funny place with bizarre real estate.

You walk around and the houses look like they belong on any street in Small Town, USA.

Then you look them up on Zillow or Trulia and they cost $5 million and the monthly mortgage is $11,000 or so.