Verizon completes Yahoo purchase

Verizon completed its purchase of Yahoo for $4.48 billion – more than $300 million less than the original deal price. The sale was first announced a year ago, followed a few months later by Yahoo’s late disclosure that 500 million user accounts were compromised in 2014, the largest known large-scale data break in history. Verizon executives were divided over how to proceed with the acquisition, but ultimately decided to complete the purchase with a reduced price.

The New York Times is calling the Yahoo sale the end of an era. Yahoo, like the Verizon-purchased AOL, was a pioneer for Internet businesses. At one point, Yahoo was worth $125 billion. Now Verizon will combine Yahoo with AOL into Oath, a new advertising product meant to compete with data mining companies like Google and Facebook. Oath plans to lay off about 2,100 workers.

Links:

Verizon Completes $4.48 Billion Purchase of Yahoo, Ending an Era (New York Times, June 13, 2017)

Verizon to buy Yahoo for $4.8 billion (Speed Matters, July 25, 2016)

Will Yahoo’s massive hack affect its $4.8B deal with Verizon? (Speed Matters, Sept. 29, 2016)

Verizon to Lay Off 2,100 Employees After Finalizing Yahoo Deal (New York Times, June 8, 2017)