AOL Co-Founder Steve Case: Yahoo Hack Gives Verizon Chance to Cut $4.8B Deal Price
On Wednesday Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO) disclosed that more than 1 billion user accounts were breached in a new cyber-attack, the largest in history.
The breach, which occurred in August 2013, is separate from the 2014 hack disclosed this past September, affecting 500 million Yahoo accounts.
Yahoo’s recent security breach may force Verizon (NYSE:VZ) to reconsider its $4.83 billion deal to acquire the internet company. AOL co-founder and former CEO Steve Case said it’s difficult to predict what will happen with the deal, but expects Verizon to renegotiate for a lower price.
“My guess is that they [Verizon] still would like to go for it, but they are trying to digest this new information and either reprice the deal or potentially walk away from the deal,” Case said during an exclusive interview on FOX Business Network Countdown to the Closing Bell.
On Thursday, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman issued a consumer alert after Yahoo announced its second data breach.
“It’s partly the size of this breach. The billion users and also some of the timing the fact that it happened three years ago I am sure that Verizon will be interested, maybe the [New York] Attorney General as well. What did they know and when did they know it, will now be a focus in the coming weeks,” Case told host Liz Claman.
The ‘Third Wave’ author said our digital information is generally safe, but warns the risk of hacks increases as the world becomes more interconnected.
“Is not just about your PCs like the first wave, or your smart phones the second wave. It really is a series of different censors and devices,” he said.
According to Case, it is really important for Silicon Valley’s innovators and the policy makers in government to work together in order to reduce the cyber threat.
President-elect Donald Trump met yesterday with leaders of the technology industry. Case said he gives Trump a lot credit for meeting with the tech elite, and sees it as step forward after such a tumultuous campaign that generated criticism from all sides.
“One of the things I think it was great that he focused on was trying to drive innovation all across the country. There’s too much focus in places like Silicon Valley. We need to also focus on the entrepreneurs what we call the ‘Rise of the Rest’ cities and focus more on investing in them,” he said.