Yahoo Inc. on Thursday, added Max Levchin, a cofounder of PayPal, to its board and announced the departure of directors Brad Smith, the chief executive of Intuit, and David W. Kenny, CEO of the Weather Channel.

The changes signal Yahoo’s continued push to become a top technology company once more, a strategy started in July when it hired Marissa Mayer away from Google as CEO.

Mayer has emphasized modernizing Yahoo staples like e-mail and the Flickr photo service to help them contend with newer competitors.

Bringing in Levchin is intended to show a commitment to developing enticing new offerings. He was PayPal’s chief technology officer before forming Slide, which helped produce Web applications for Facebook. Google bought Slide for about $180 million two years ago.

He will serve as the fourth director nominated by Daniel S. Loeb, the activist hedge fund manager who joined Yahoo’s board in May after mounting a prominent challenge to the company’s directors.

Loeb’s other directors, besides himself, are Michael J. Wolf, a media consultant, and Harry Wilson, a turnaround expert.

Loeb has helped orchestrate a number of changes, including hiring Mayer.