Telecom giant Verizon has acquired Yahoo’s core business for $4.48bn (£3.51m), thus ending Yahoo’s two-decade long run as an independent company. Verizon is the No.1 wireless operator in the US. Salient Highlights Verizon will combine Yahoo with AOL which was bought by it two years ago to establish a venture called Oath. The Oath is a division in Verizon’s Media and Telematics organisation. Oath owns more than 50 brands such as HuffPost, TechCrunch and Tumblr. With the acquisition, Yahoo’s chief executive Marissa Mayer has resigned.
Verizon has not indicated how it proposes to use the Yahoo brand which is used by millions of people worldwide. But it has stated that it will keep the names Yahoo Sports, Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Mail and more. Yahoo’s acquisition brings to an end a long decline of its market value which peaked at $125 billion in 2000. The remainder of Yahoo which is not acquired by Verizon will change its name to Altaba Inc. It will become a holding company with 15.5% stakes in Chinese Internet giant Alibaba and a 35.5% holding in Yahoo Japan Corp. It will begin trading under the ticker symbol “AABA.” Thomas McInerney, a Yahoo board member will be made as Altaba’s chief executive officer.