Verizon is copping Yahoo for the bargain-friendly price of just $4.8 billion, adding to its retro collection of properties that already included something called "AOL." The deal was reached over the weekend and is designed to boost Verizon's digital content platform, the New York Timesreports. AOL and Yahoo together under one roof? Innnnnnteresting.
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer addressed the sale in a post on Tumblr (which Yahoo purchased back in 2013) Monday, expressing her desire to remain with the company during the transition.
"Yahoo and AOL popularized the Internet, email, search and real-time media," Mayer said. "It's poetic to be joining forces with AOL and Verizon as we enter our next chapter focused on achieving scale on mobile. We have a terrific, loyal, experienced and quality team, and I couldn't be prouder of our achievements to date, including building our new lines of business to $1.6 billion in GAAP revenue in 2015. I'm excited to extend our momentum through this transaction."
Tim Armstrong, the one who's CEO of AOL and sadly not the one who fronts Rancid, agreed with Mayer's hopeful vision for the future. "Our mission at AOL is to build brands people love, and we will continue to invest in and grow them," Armstrong said in a press release. "Yahoo has been a long-time investor in premium content and created some of the most beloved consumer brands in key categories like sports, news, and finance."
The most interesting aspect of Verizon's deal is that seemingly hefty dollar amount. While billions of dollars may sound like a commendable haul, that's not exactly the case for Yahoo. As noted by the Wall Street Journal, Microsoft tried to buy Yahoo back in 2008 for a much cooler $45 billion. Then-CEO (and Yahoo co-founder) Jerry Yang turned down the deal, baffling investors and ultimately leading to some serious internal drama. 8 years later, the company is taking a $40 billion loss to get absorbed by Verizon.
But Mayer, as she revealed on Tumblr Monday, isn't sweating all the speculation. Not even a little bit. "The strategic process has created a lot of uncertainty, but our incredibly loyal and dedicated employee base has stepped up to every challenge along the way," Mayer said. "Through the first half of the year, we met our operational goals and overachieved on plan. But, further, there are things that you cannot measure, like the passion of the people behind the products. The teams here have not only built incredible products and technologies, but have built Yahoo into one of the most iconic, and universally well-liked companies in the world."
