Verizon have announced the purchase of Yahoo ending speculation on the future of Yahoo. Verizon will $4.8 billion for the business. An announcement was made before NY stock exchange opened earlier today.
Once one of the most dominant dotcom businesses, like AOL it never really recovered from the dot-com crash, and has struggled to find its way in an ever changing digital landscape. The advent of Google and later Facebook made these portals less relevant to internet users. Verizon will now own both.
The bulk of Yahoo’s value resides in its Alibaba, China investment. Other deals, such the acquisition of Tumblr, have failed to boost the business. However, Verizon will not be buying Yahoo’s Alibaba stake or Yahoo Japan which will remain with Yahoo’s current shareholders. Verizon have said they intend to merge Yahoo with AOL.
The appointment of high flying Google executive Marissa Mayer as CEO in 2012, was hoped to revive its fortunes but new momentum never really materialised.
Mayer says she’ll be staying with the business but Verizon say the leadership team has yet to be decided. If Mayer does depart, a severance package of $57 million has been mooted in the press.