Verizon $5bn Yahoo Deal Imminent

 

Verizon is on the verge of announcing its acquisition of Yahoo in a deal worth US$ billion, various newswires reported.

 

An unnamed source told Reuters that the announcement will come before the start of trading in New York on Monday.

 

Meanwhile, Bloomberg, which broke the story, quoted two sources as saying that the deal will come in at just ahead of $4.8 billion.

 

Verizon is expected to announce the takeover of Yahoo's core assets, including some of its real estate, the sources said.

 

Yahoo will sell off certain intellectual property assets separately, they added, noting that the Internet firm will also be left with its holdings in Alibaba Group and Yahoo Japan, whose combined market value stands at about $40 billion.

 

The deal will likely trigger the departure of chief executive Marissa Mayer, the former Google executive who took the top job at Yahoo in 2012 – becoming its sixth CEO in five years – with the remit of turning around the troubled company's fortunes.

 

After swingeing job cuts, various asset sale plans and the 2013 acquisition of blogging platform Tumblr, it became clear earlier this year that Yahoo's days as an intact, standalone company were likely to be limited. And a number of suitors have reportedly been circling.

 

Around 40 companies initially showed interest in Yahoo, or various bits of it, the Wall Street Journal reported in April, but not all chose to pursue an acquisition and by the start of last week there were five left in the running, Bloomberg said, including Verizon and arch-rival AT&T. It named the other three hopefuls as private equity firms TPG and Vector Capital, and Dan Gilbert, founder of online lender Quicken Loans.