Ending a 22-year reign as an independent company, pioneering tech giant Yahoo Inc. is selling its core business to Verizon Communications Inc., the world’s second-largest telecommunications company by revenue. Speculations about this monumental deal have been ubiquitous for a large portion of the year, and as of last week, the rumors have turned into reality.
While anticipated, the $4.8 billion (₦ 1.7 trillion at the current exchange rate) purchase price comes as a surprise to many, especially given that Microsoft proposed a $44 billion buyout of Yahoo in 2008. Fast-forward to the present: the company is auctioning off its core business for a mere fraction of Microsoft’s generous offer. The dramatic decrease, owing to various circumstances, marks the end of an era for one of the internet’s key pioneers.
After attempting various strategies to reinvigorate Yahoo’s financial standing over the years, the Yahoo Board of Directors has officially agreed to sell the company’s core businesses to Verizon. After the sale, Yahoo shareholders will have approximately $41 billion worth of investments in the Chinese e-commerce conglomerate Alibaba, Yahoo Japan, and a small cache of patents.
This is a far cry from Yahoo’s peak value that reached an astonishing $125 billion in January 2000. Marissa Mayer, Yahoo’s chief executive, isn’t anticipated to join Verizon post-acquisition; however, she is likely to receive a hefty severance payout of about $57 million, according to the compensation research firm, Equilar.
As confirmed by Verizon in a recent post, the acquisition deal is going to be cash-based. Post-acquisition, “Yahoo will be integrated with AOL under Marni Walden, EVP and President of the Product Innovation and New Businesses within Verizon.”
An independent [announcement](https://yahoo.tumblr.com/post/147941303269/verizon-to-acquire-yahoos-operating-business) by Yahoo confirmed that their current CEO, Marissa Mayer, who was appointed in July 2012 to steer the company to profitability, will remain with Yahoo. To date, there’s no information on when she might depart the company.
Today, Yahoo caters to a global audience, connecting and entertaining over 1 billion monthly active users, including 600 million monthly active mobile users, with its search, communications, and digital content products. For advertisers, Yahoo’s unified advertising technology stack offers immense value by merging the power of Yahoo’s data, content, and advanced technology for targeting audiences.
Despite these recent developments, it’s worth taking a step back to acknowledge Yahoo’s significant contribution to shaping the internet landscape as we know it. If you’ve ever opened an email account and it’s over 15 years old, chances are you had a Yahoo account. With Verizon’s acquisition of AOL last year, and now Yahoo, Verizon has garnered a portfolio with over 25 prominent brands in the technology sector.
In an interview with CNBC regarding the acquisition, Mayer steered clear from labeling Yahoo’s sale as a failure. She expressed, “Overall, when you look at what the company has achieved over its history and where we are today, I couldn’t be prouder of the team and what we’ve been able to achieve.”
Under Mayer’s leadership, Yahoo acquired Tumblr for $1.1 billion in 2013 and became the default search provider on Mozilla’s Firefox internet browser. Yahoo’s journey towards restructuring has reached a significant milestone with this acquisition, but it remains to be seen what the future holds for one of the internet’s former giants.
Paul Balo is the founder of TechBooky and a highly skilled wireless communications professional with a strong background in cloud computing, offering extensive experience in designing, implementing, and managing wireless communication systems.
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