Verizon is acquiring certain Yahoo assets for $5 billion and the deal -- subject to a range of variables -- could be announced as soon as Monday, July 25, Recode reports. The deal, if completed, will empower Verizon with Yahoo's BrightRoll video ad service and media assets such as Yahoo Finance (a ChannelE2E favorite) and Yahoo Sports.
Updated Sunday, July 24, 1:49 p.m. ET: Verizon is now finalizing the deal valued at $4.8 billion and the agreement will be announced Monday, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Verizon, which also has a range of cloud, network infrastructure and mobile assets, has been pushing deeper into online content and media over the past year. Indeed, Verizon acquired AOL for $4.4 billion in 2015, though that deal has had mixed results so far.
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is not expected to stay on after the deal is wrapped up in the fall, Recode reported, and it is unclear how many of Yahoo’s current execs will remain. Mayer -- like a series of CEOs before her -- tried and failed to reinvent Yahoo for the modern media, mobile, social and cloud services age. Amid that reality, Yahoo's board essentially put the company up for sale in recent months.
Yahoo, founded in 1994 by Stanford University Students Jerry Yang and David Filo, was an early star in the Internet search market and performed well until the early dot-com bubble of around 2000. But more innovative search technologies like Google ultimately leapfrogged Yahoo. The company has had a series of CEOs since 2009 (Carol Bartz, Tim Morse, Scott Thompson, Ross Levinsohn and Mayer). But multiple acquisitions -- such as the $1.1 billion Tumblr deal in 2013 -- have failed to jumpstart the company.
Verizon itself also has been in transition mode. The company's cloud services initiatives have yet to pay any big dividends (the company has been trying to sell its cloud data centers since late 2015), but virtual network services and other virtualization technologies for enterprises and midsize businesses are launching now.
Verizon's alleged buyout of Yahoo would be subject to certain regulatory approvals. Verizon is expected to announce quarterly results on Tuesday, July 26.
