Verizon sells Yahoo, AOL and media assets to Apollo in $5B deal
Yahoo will continue to be led by CEO Guru Gowrappan
Verizon is selling its media assets, including AOL and Yahoo, to Apollo Global Management for $5 billion, the telecommunications firm said on Monday.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VZ | VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INC. | 44.34 | -0.04 | -0.09% |
| APO | APOLLO GLOBAL MANAGEMENT | 175.03 | +1.18 | +0.68% |
The new company will be known as Yahoo once the deal is closed, and will continue being led by Verizon Media CEO Guru Gowrappan. Verizon will maintain a 10% stake in the new business.
"With Apollo’s sector expertise and strategic insight, Yahoo will be well positioned to capitalize on market opportunities, media and transaction experience and continue to grow our full stack digital advertising platform," Gowrappan said in a statement. "This transition will help to accelerate our growth for the long-term success of the company."
Yahoo at the end of the last century was the face of the internet, preceding the behemoth tech platforms to follow, such as Google. And AOL was the portal, bringing almost everyone who logged on during the internet's earliest days online.
Verizon had hoped to ride the acquisition of AOL to a quick entry into the mobile market, spending more than $4 billion on the company in 2015. The plan was to use the advertising platform pioneered by AOL to sell digital advertising. Two years later, it spent even more to acquire yahoo and combined the two.
The year after buying Yahoo, Verizon wrote down the value of the combined operation, called "Oath," by more than the $4.5 billion it had spent on Yahoo.
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Under terms of the agreement, Verizon will receive $4.25 billion in cash and preferred interests of $750 million, in addition to the 10% ownership stake.
The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2021.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report