Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer Steps Down, Remainder of Company to Be Renamed ‘Altaba’
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If Verizon’s $4.8 billion purchase of Yahoo’s core internet business continues to move forward, the remainder of the company will rebrand itself as Altaba, Inc.
Contrary to several reports, the company’s search engine and other services being bought by Verizon largely expected to retain the Yahoo brand, according to CBC Business. The portion of the company not being acquired will be continue on as an investment company, holding on to its 15 percent stake of e-commerce site Alibaba and its 35.5 percent stake of Yahoo Japan.
Only five board members will remain at the new company: Tor Braham, Eric Brandt, Catherine Friedman, Thomas McInerney and Jeffrey Smith. The rest of the board — including CEO Marissa Mayer — will step down from the newly renamed company. It’s currently unknown if Mayer or the other board members who are stepping down will be recruited for any integration efforts at Verizon, according to TechCrunch.
News of the rebranding and board member transition comes from a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, which was released on Jan. 9. And it’s a sign that the Verizon acquisition is moving forward despite several hiccups.
Verizon agreed to buy the internet company in July 2016. Since, Yahoo has announced several security breaches. One particular breach, which occurred in August 2013 and was announced by the company in December 2016, is said to have affected more than one billion Yahoo user accounts — and it’s believed to be a separate and distinct breach than the one announced in September 2016 that affected 500 million user accounts.
In the wake of those reports, Verizon allegedly considered asking for a discount on the $4.8 billion deal. In October, Verizon reportedly asked for a $1 billion discount of the purchase price due to September’s data breach and spying allegations — and that was before news of the one billion hacked accounts. Other reports suggested that the deal might falter completely due to the breaches.
In any case, we should know more about the sale and any potential issues when Yahoo releases its earnings call later this month.
