Verizon completes Yahoo! buy, combines with AOL to create Oath
Despite mid-air turbulence along the way, Verizon Communications Inc.'s (NYSE, NASDAQ: VZ) $4.48 billion cash purchase of the operating business of Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) finally came in for a landing Tuesday. The company has combined its new assets with the AOL business it purchased in 2015 in a new subsidiary, dubbed Oath.
Tim Armstrong, former CEO of AOL, was named CEO of Oath. Marissa Mayer, former CEO of Yahoo!, has resigned. Armstrong told CNBC that he expects approximately 2,100 people will be laid off as part of the asset integration.
Oath, part of Verizon's Media and Telematics organization, will house more than 50 media and technology brands. These include HuffPost, Yahoo Sports, AOL.com, MAKERS, Tumblr, BUILD Studios, Yahoo Finance, and Yahoo Mail, among others. The deal further extends Verizon into content provision and advertising revenue generation.
"We're building the future of brands using powerful technology, trusted content, and differentiated data," said Armstrong. "We have dominating consumer brands in news, sports, finance, tech, and entertainment and lifestyle coupled with our market leading advertising technology platforms. Now that the deal is closed, we are excited to set our focus on being the best company for consumer media, and the best partner to our advertising, content and publisher partners."
Verizon first announced its intention to buy Yahoo! for approximately $4.83 billion in cash in July 2016 (see "Verizon wins Yahoo! auction"). However, revelations of data breaches within Yahoo! cast the decision to conclude the purchase into question. The companies eventually renegotiated the purchase price, lowering it by $350 million (see "Verizon, Yahoo! renegotiate acquisition agreement").
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Stephen Hardy
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Stephen Hardy has covered fiber optics for more than 15 years, and communications and technology for more than 30 years. He is responsible for establishing and executing Lightwave's editorial strategy across its digital magazine, website, newsletters, research and other information products. He has won multiple awards for his writing.
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