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U.S. telco reportedly upset about Yahoo’s failure to disclose massive cyber attack.
Verizon wants a $1 billion (€896.5 million) discount off the $4.8 billion price it agreed to pay for Yahoo in July, after the latter revealed it was the victim of a cyber attack that compromised 500 million users.
This is according to sources cited in a New York Post report on Thursday, who said the U.S. telco believes Yahoo’s value has been impacted by the revelations.
In September, Yahoo admitted that it was subjected to what it claims was a state-sponsored hack, which exposed the personal information of as many as 500 million users.
Information including names, email addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, encrypted passwords, and in some cases, encrypted or unencrypted security questions and answers.
To make matters worse, Yahoo said the attack took place in 2014, leading to questions about why it took so long for the company to detect and disclose the hack.
In an SEC filing by Yahoo earlier in September that relates to its acquisition by Verizon, the company said there had not been any security breaches involving the "loss, theft, unauthorised access or acquisition, modification, disclosure, corruption or other misuse of any personal data in [the] seller’s or the business subsidiaries’ possession."
However, a source cited by the Financial Times last month insisted that Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer was aware in July of a potential data breach.
According to the New York Post’s sources, Tim Armstrong, who heads Verizon’s AOL unit, which is set to absorb Yahoo, is getting cold feet.
"He’s pretty upset about the lack of disclosure, and he’s saying, ‘can we get out of this or can we reduce the price?’," said a source, in the report.
However, Yahoo is reportedly unwilling to budge
Furthermore, the New York Post also said Verizon has set aside $1 billion to cover potential liabilities stemming from the Yahoo attack.
