Yahoo has been in the top visited website list for years now, although more recently, has been declining in visits. Verizon Communications has then decided to purchase Yahoo Inc. in order to grow its presence in the global web. In 2015, to help with this, Verizon acquired AOL LLC, the former dominant Internet service provider in the United States.
Mrs. Marissa Mayer, former speaker and top senior executive at Google, helped with the purchase of Yahoo, as chief executive officer of the company. Many rumors have circulated the news that Mayer would resign or be fired from the company after Verizon's acquisition. Mayer declined this, sending out an email saying how she will continue to see Yahoo! grow and develop as a company.
During Verizon's acquisition of Yahoo, the latter addressed publicly that 2 separate hacks had happened to the company's user database. These have occurred at least almost two years beforehand. It was then reported that Verizon would reconsider finishing the acquisition of the Internet company. Despite the data breaches, the acquisition continued, with the price of purchase going down, and Yahoo warning their users to check for any suspicious activity within their accounts. The price went down to $4.48 billion, from $4.8 billion.
Verizon's plan for the company were to merge it within AOL, according to many sources. It was later reported that they will only purchase the core Internet business from Yahoo, the rest will receive a new name. In April of 2017, AOL CEO, Tim Armstrong, posted on Twitter a picture of a new logo, supposedly the one for the new combined company, which will go under the name, "Oath," rather than AOL. He also hinted that the Yahoo! acquisition from Verizon would finish up in the summer of 2017.
In the beginning of June 2017, it was announced that the purchase would finish on the 13th of the month. After the finish of the purchase, the now-former Yahoo Inc's core Internet business was the foundation of Oath Inc. Joining it, AOL became a subsidiary of the newly formed company. Minutes later, despite the email, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer resigned on Tumblr (owned by Yahoo/Oath), and gave her final "Yaho-o-oo!" Tim Armstrong took over as Oath Inc's CEO.
The remainder of the company, although mostly-non-existent at the time, continued to use the YHOO stock ticker symbol for NASDAQ, under the name "Yahoo Inc." as normal, despite it being renamed as "Altaba Inc." on Friday, June 16th. On June 19th, the YHOO symbol was retired for AABA. The name Altaba is based on Alibaba Group. Alibaba Group is just one o f the companies, in which the new Altaba, Inc. is investing in, along with Yahoo! Japan. (Alibaba Group, beforehand, bought out Yahoo! China.) The publicly trading company is classified officially now as a "non-diversified, closed-end management investment company," by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.
From Yahoo Inc.'s Board of Directors, Eddy Gartenstein, Richard Hill, Jane Shaw, Jeffery Smith, Maynard Webb Jr., along with former CEO Marissa Mayer and co-founder David Filo resigned. Thomas J. McInerney, remained with the company, and took over for Mayer as CEO of the former Yahoo Inc, then for Altaba Inc. on June 16th. Tor Braham and Catherine Friedman are also remaining, along with Alexi Wellman, who will become Chief Financial and Accounting Officer, DeAnn Fairdield Work will become the Chief Compliance Officer. Also according to the website, Arthur Chong will continue to serve as the company's General Counsel and Secretary.
What do you all think about all of these changes going on with Yahoo, AOL, Verizon, and everything? This is one of the most confusing acquisitions for a technology company. We hope Marissa Mayer well, and that the new Oath Inc and Altaba Inc will continue to be successful.
