Verison buys Yahoo for $4.83 Billion
Verizon buys Yahoo!!! Oh Yes! Indeed you read that right. Yahoo’s days as an independent company are over.
Verizon is buying Yahoo for $4.8 billion in cash. The two companies confirmed this on Monday and this is the end of a purchase process that started months ago. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2017.
Verizon is an American broadband telecommunications company and a large U.S. wireless communications service provider. It has made this acquisition to help continue its push into Web content and advertising . Verizon is therefore officially acquiring Yahoo’s core business which includes Yahoo’s advertising, content, search and mobile activities.
A lot of us are probably wondering what this means for us.
Will our emails go away?
Will the name that seems synonymous to the internet be wiped away?
What is going to happen to Yahoo sites?
Fear not! For nothing is going to change in the short term till the deal closes but both companies have not said what will become of the brand in the future. However it seems sensible that Verizon will retain the Yahoo brand — as a sub-brand like AOL.
Yahoo is the second most popular mail in the U.S after Gmail, and so it is most likely that Verizon would want to keep the brand intact.
We however do not know what will become of the Yahoo name. We hope it does not change but alas change is the only constant thing.
As for the Yahoo sites since Verizon is buying Yahoo to strengthen its media and advertising platform, we are hoping the websites will be kept.
According to the Chief Executive Officer of Yahoo, Marissa Mayer “Yahoo is a company that has changed the world, and will continue to do so through this combination with Verizon and AOL. Yahoo and AOL popularized the Internet, email, search and real-time media. It’s poetic to be joining forces with AOL and Verizon as we enter our next chapter focused on achieving scale on mobile.”
This sale of Yahoo’s operating business does not include its Asian asset equity stakes. Yahoo claims that this move is an important step in its plan to unlock shareholder value for Yahoo.