It's now being reported that Verizon and Yahoo are exclusively negotiating. That's as close as anyone has gotten since Microsoft made an offer years ago.<p>Verizon is really doing a big transition with this acquisition and their AOL acquisition. They've acquired alot of valuable web space to put adds on/monetize. This is a probably good news for Yahoo employee's as Verizon then has a vested interest in keeping the company running and not splitting it up into pieces like a PE firm may be more inclined to do.<p>The one interesting thing I've heard is that Verizon isn't interested in Yahoo's patent portfolio, which means it could still be up for grabs.<p>Hopefully its bought by a Microsoft/Google consortium and very liberally cross licensed rather than a private equity firm who will look to more aggressively monetize it.<p>I also heard that Tim Armstrong, formerly of Google with Mayer will lead the combined AOL/Yahoo company, which means that Mayer probably isn't coming along as part of this deal. I think most people expected this.<p>If this ends up going through for the reported 3.5 billion, then Verizon has bought a significant portion of traffic on the web for roughly 8 billion (AOL was acquired for 4.4 Billion).<p>This could end up looking like a very good acquisition in a few years!
It is deeply sad that there's even a chance that Yahoo will be sold for ~$5BN to Verizon, which bough AOL for $4.4BN, especially considering that AOL has 0.9% of the US web search traffic while Yahoo still has more than 10% and amazing agreements in place that allow it to show the best search results between Google and Bing. How is this maximizing value for shareholders exactly ?
Marissa Mayer is a terrible CEO. Unbelievable the amount of money she has been paid to flush the remainder of Yahoo down the drain with no strategy while employees suffer. Yahoo (net of BABA) is less than worthless.
Yahoo did serve one purpose, it was the exit system for a lot of almost successful startups. Hope that continues under Verizon, though I doubt it.<p>On Mayer, well eh she put her hand up and suffered. but then Yahoo was pretty much past saving. Hopefully, she's learned from her mistakes and moves to something more productive.
I'm hoping Yahoo's Smart TV platform business is sold to someone who will make it awesome. It has potential and a pretty massive installed base.
That's just wow!<p>Fifteen years or so from now, some company will likely be picking up Facebook on the cheap. By that time, Twitter will probably be history.<p>Google?<p>The wheel of life...
I am hoping Verizon will change their logo after this aquisition. It looks ridiculous..<p><a href="https://cdn0.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/zL414AMfclnMcwL59xa3ZTXrcDw=/3x0:1418x796/1600x900/cdn0.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/47080648/Screen_Shot_2015-09-02_at_2.20.55_pm.0.0.png" rel="nofollow">https://cdn0.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/zL414AMfclnMcwL59xa3ZTXrcDw...</a>
Is Verizon Wireless still injecting tracking headers into cellular data traffic? If so, how will these new acquisitions affect the way that these headers can be used?
I have mixed feelings about this. I still use Yahoo once or twice a week to read their news feed, and I am a long time Verizon customer (although my wife and I are considering saving a lot of money each month and switch to Google Fi when we need new phones).<p>I would hope that a media company like Yahoo could have existed independently from a parent company.
This certainly seems to make the most sense. It does seem like Verizon is chasing the past with this acquisition, going for Internet 1996 and Internet 2000 rather than the mobile future. (I don't buy Mayer's contention that Yahoo is now a mobile company)
This isn't good for consumers. Verizon is looking to add web assets with a longer term strategy, locking in people to their web space.<p>As in, two different data tiers, they family of businesses and everything else.<p>If there were true net neutrality, the government would block this purchase.
Wow, i gotta say this is like Time Warner/AOL. Perhaps the internet is more mature now to make this work but Im not holding my breath. How will they reconcile the 2 adtech stacks which are huge messes in and off themselves.
From what I've read, it appears unclear as to what Yahoo defines to be its "core business". Are there any details on what specifically Verizon is seeking to acquire, and whether Flickr is included?
Somewhat unrelated but: Since the Government is already tapping into wired and wireless networks without consent, it would be nice if they would take control of all ISPs... we would probably get better cellphone service at least.
"Ma Bell, proud owners of both AOL and Yahoo." Clinton running for president. You would be forgiven for asking if it was the 1990s. It's hard for me to be excited by any of this. Those are three really dull companies.
"Verizon sees a complimentary set of businesses that could find a home alongside its AOL properties."<p>This tells you everything you need to know, because AOL should have died years ago as well.