Verizon has officially announced they are buying Yahoo!’s core business for approximately $4.83 billion in cash, subject to regulatory approval and Yahoo’s shareholders. The purchase includes Yahoo!’s search, advertising, content creation, and mobile technologies.
The buyout follows Verizon’s purchase of AOL just over a year ago (for about $4.4B). According to Lowell McAdam, Verizon Chairman and CEO, “The acquisition of Yahoo will put Verizon in a highly competitive position as a top global mobile media company, and help accelerate our revenue stream in digital advertising.”
Verizon states that AOL and Yahoo combined will have 25 brands for “continued investment and growth,” including publications such as Engadget, TechCrunch, and The Huffington Post.
“This transaction also sets up a great opportunity for Yahoo to build further distribution and accelerate our work in mobile, video, native advertising and social,” said Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo.
She added, “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.”
According to the Verizon press release, Yahoo will be integrated with AOL under Marni Walden, EVP and President of the Product Innovation and New Businesses organization at Verizon.
The purchase does not include Yahoo’s shares in Alibaba or Yahoo Japan, however, which are valued in the tens of billions of dollars (combined close to $40B), or Yahoo’s patent portfolio estimated at around $1 billion.
“Our mission at AOL is to build brands people love, and we will continue to invest in and grow them. Yahoo has been a long-time investor in premium content and created some of the most beloved consumer brands in key categories like sports, news and finance,” said Tim Armstrong, CEO of AOL.
Source: Verizon via PRNewsWire
