This is the end of an era for one of the earliest web giants – Yahoo – which is no more an independent company. Verizon has officially acquired Yahoo’s core business for $4.83 billion, which includes Yahoo’s advertising, content, search and mobile activities. Verizon Communications, Inc., is an American broadband telecommunications company and the largest U.S. wireless communications service provider. Verizon also owns companies like AOL and TechCrunch.
Yahoo’s stakes in Alibaba, Yahoo Japan and Yahoo patent portfolio aren’t part of the acquisition. The addition of Yahoo is Verizon’s second major digital acquisition in about a year after AOL. Verizon wants to merge Yahoo and AOL to form a bigger advertising and media subsidiary to boost its media and advertising businesses.
The combination of AOL and Yahoo now gives Verizon two of the biggest and oldest online media operations. “Just over a year ago we acquired AOL to enhance our strategy of providing a cross-screen connection for consumers, creators and advertiser,” Verizon Chairman and CEO Lowell McAdam said in the release. “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” he added.
Yahoo has a global audience of more than 1 billion users, including 600 million on mobile. The company also owns premium brands in finance, news and sports. Yahoo Mail has 225 million monthly active users. The company’s consumer services including email will continue to run.
“Yahoo is a company that has changed the world, and will continue to do so through this combination with Verizon and AOL,” said Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer in a press release.”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” she added.
About Verizon
Verizon Communications, Inc. is an American broadband telecommunications company and the largest U.S. wireless communications service provider as of September 2014, and a corporate component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is based at 1095 Avenue of the Americas in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, but is incorporated in Delaware. [Via: Wikipedia]
