About Yahoo:
Founded in 1994 by two Stanford PhD candidates, Jerry Yang and David Filo, Yahoo was the original guide to the Internet, connecting users with their passions and helping them to discover the mystery and promise of the World Wide Web. Rooted in that beginning we continue to be a guide to digital information, informing, connecting and entertaining our users with search, communications, and digital content products. search, communications, and digital content products.
Acquisition of Yahoo by Verizon:
Two years ago — an epoch in Silicon Valley time — AOL chief executive Tim Armstrong proposed a merger to Yahoo chief executive Marissa Mayer.
The two companies made the announcement after a months-long courtship between the troubled internet giant and the largest wireless company in the US.
Verizon will pay $4.83 billion in cash for Yahoo’s core internet business, which includes iconic web brands like Yahoo Mail, Fantasy Sports, photo storage site Flickr and Yahoo search, as well as the company’s advertising technology.
Verizon has become a collector of high-flying brands from the early days of the internet. The telecom giant will merge Yahoo with AOL, another past-its-prime web trailblazer that it bought last year for $4.4 billion. The thinking is that the two companies can combine to make a solid No. 3 alternative to digital advertising juggernauts Google and Facebook, which rank as the most-trafficked websites in the world. Right now, those two companies account for almost 43 percent of digital ad sales worldwide, according to eMarketer. Yahoo is in seventh place with 1.5 percent.
The addition of Yahoo to Verizon and AOL will create one of the largest portfolios of owned and partnered global brands with extensive distribution capabilities. Combined, AOL and Yahoo will have more than 25 brands in its portfolio for continued investment and growth. Yahoo’s key assets include market-leading premium content brands in major categories including finance, news and sports, as well as one of the most popular email services globally with approximately 225 million monthly active users. Additional technology assets in the advertising space include Brightroll, a programmatic demand-side platform; Flurry, an independent mobile apps analytics service; and Gemini, a native and search advertising solution.
Goldman, Sachs & Co., J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and PJT Partners are acting as financial advisors to the Yahoo Board and its Strategic Review Committee. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP are acting as legal advisors to Yahoo. Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP is independent legal advisor to Yahoo’s Strategic Review Committee.
BY: DEVIKA SHARMA
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