It was originally called “Jerry and Dave’s Guide to the World Wide Web” and when the Yahoo name was agreed upon, its founders said in jest that it stood for “Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle”.
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It’s the end of Yahoo as we know it with Verizon buying the internet company for a fraction of what it once was worth. Under the Verizon umbrella, Yahoo could focus on maintaining audiences under less pressure from Wall Street.
That portfolio of brands also includes what AOL has invested in and grown, including The Huffington Post, TechCrunch, the web magazine Engadget, the digital platform MAKERS, and ONE by AOL for publishers and advertisers.
Once finished, Yahoo will be a shell of its former self, existing mainly as a holding company for its Alibaba and Yahoo Japan investments, as well as its patent portfolio. They will be spun into a separate, yet-to-be-named, publicly traded company.
Yahoo will continue as an independent company until the deal receives shareholder and regulatory approval, the companies said.
The sale could result in thousands of layoffs as Verizon eliminates overlapping jobs and services in Yahoo and AOL. Both Yahoo and Google have closed down services that millions of people use when they don’t fit with the companies’ strategies.
Ms Mayer, who took the helm at Yahoo in 2012, has made little progress in returning the company to profit. The deal will put Verizon in third place in the US digital ad market share, behind Facebook and Google.
While there had been speculation among Wall Street observers that Mayer would exit with a Yahoo sale, she said that she plans to stay. “It’s important to me to see Yahoo into its next chapter”.
Other players said to be lining up for Yahoo were fellow communications player AT&T and an investment group that is comprised of private equity firms and is backed by Warren Buffett.
It also holds a multibillion-dollar stake in Yahoo Japan. It is assumed that Yahoo’s current board will make those decisions, in which case, Mayer, who’s on the board, will continue to be part of it.
With better operating efficiencies and lower costs, “they’ll be lucky if they get their money back” from the deal, he said.
July: Verizon acquires Yahoo’s core business.
But Mayer struggled to slow Yahoo’s overall ad sales decline.
But the sale price suggests that Yahoo’s glory days ended long ago.
To boost traffic and revenue even more, Verizon could also ship some phones with Yahoo apps already installed.
February: Yahoo unveils plans to cut staff. It starts a prolonged auction of its core Internet business. But for Verizon, the deal is about more than just nostalgia.
Verizon is a telecommunications company in the United States.
Investors were less than thrilled.
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Yahoo’s stock fell $1.06 to $38.32 Monday in late afternoon trading.
