Mike Wuerthele
Verizon on Monday announced a deal to buy the search engine pioneer Yahoo for $4.8 billion, granting Verizon over one billion total monthly search users in conjunction with another large internet advertising network that it will be adding to the AOL network.
Combined, the companies will hold 25 media and advertising brands, and will have an email service with 225 million monthly active users.
Both companies are Apple partners: Verizon is one of the largest iPhone carriers in the world, while Yahoo is a default search engine on Apple products and its data is still used in the iPhone's native Stocks app. The iOS Weather app was also provided by Yahoo up until the release of iOS 8.
The sale comes at the end of a year of speculation, and preparations for a possible sale for Yahoo. In March, Yahoo laid off 1000 and closed offices in Dubai, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Madrid, and Milan to consolidate costs, and prepare for a sale or split of the company.
The sale is not for the entirety of Yahoo, and does not include Yahoo's cash, shares in Alibaba Group Holdings, shares in Yahoo Japan, other investments, and Yahoo's patent portfolio not related to search and advertising. The assets not transferred to Verizon will continue to be held by Yahoo, which will change its name at closing and transition into becoming an investment company.
The deal supplements the AOL purchase in May 2015, and further extends Verizon's already large advertising network. The AOL deal also delivered a number of major news websites to Verizon, including Engadget, the Huffington Post, and TechCrunch, along with a larger "multiple screen" media strategy. The AOL purchase was also responsible for the closure of Apple enthusiast site TUAW.
The deal is subject to traditional closing restrictions, including regulatory approvals, and Yahoo shareholder approval. Verizon expects the deal to finalize in the first quarter of 2017.
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20 Comments
I have had an AOL email account and use it as my primary account. I've had it since 1994 when AOL was the only consumer service for connecting to the world. Back then I connected via a 300 bps modem and then I thought I was in heaven when I upgraded to 1200 bps. What a wonder a 19200 bps was! What a bill I sometimes racked up at the hourly rate. Today if I use the AOL web interface for email access since Verizon bought them what a miriad of ads and crappy news I see!
I have used Yahoo! as my home page for years. I like the layout even though it's been through some interesting changes over the years. I get my appleinsider headlines via Yahoo!. I'm not looking forward to what Verizon might do to Yahoo! and my favorite homepage. I'm 59 and change is difficult for this old guy on such things. I always look forward to OS and productivity app upgrades but when I start my browser I want my Yahoo!
Good. Maybe those awful blogger sites will stop writing crack about Apple.
Yahoo! = DMW. Can't believe that Verizon actually paid anything for it. For quite a while, the value of the company was below the value of its Alibaba holdings. In other words, the market was attaching a value < 0 for Yahoo!'s operating assets.
And the U.S. CEO get rich quick scheme rolls on. That blonde who warmed a chair for a couple of years will be rewarded with obscene amounts of money for just showing up.
Just so long as they don't close down or screw up Flickr... I have WAAY too much time & effort involved in my Flickr page.