News
Verizon exec still unsure whether $4.83 billion deal will still go ahead.
Yahoo revealed late on Monday that if the Verizon deal to acquire its core Internet assets goes ahead, the remaining parts of the business will be renamed ‘Altaba’.
In an SEC filing, the company also said that CEO Marissa Mayer will step down from its board in line with a plan to reduce the size of said board. Eric Brandt, who only joined Yahoo’s board in March 2016, will become the company’s chairman.
Yahoo said that if the Verizon deal closes, the leftover Altaba business will operate as an investment company.
However, doubt remains about whether Verizon will push ahead with the $4.83 billion takeover.
"I can’t sit here today and say with confidence one way or the other because we still don’t know," said Marni Walden, president of product innovation and new businesses at Verizon, at the Citi Internet, Media and Telecommunications Conference last week.
Months after the sale to Verizon was agreed, Yahoo last year revealed that it was the victim of two cyber attacks, one in 2014; the other in 2013, that compromised the profile information of 500 million and more than 1 billion users respectively.
Walden, whose remarks at the Citi event were transcribed and shared by Verizon, said the investigation into the security breaches, and how they potentially affect the value and makeup of Yahoo, is still ongoing.
"With time we will have answers to those questions and we will come back, but we will be very responsible about what we need to do to make sure that we are getting the value out of the asset and doing the right thing for our shareholders," she said.
