Verizon sells AOL and Yahoo to asset manager for $5 billion

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Verizon will sell Verizon Media to asset manager Apollo for EUR 4.15 billion. Verizon Media includes Yahoo and AOL. This company is now known as Yahoo. Verizon holds ten percent of the shares.

CEO Guru Gowrappan will stay with the new Yahoo parent company, Verizon writes. The acquisition will allow the former Verizon Media to “pursue aggressive growth,” Verizon said. In the past 2.5 years, Verizon Media is said to have transformed into a company “with potential to grow,” said Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg. Vestberg does not say why the company is being sold. He does say that the Yahoo company now needs “full investment” and the right resources.

Yahoo believes it can play a major role among Gen Z people who search for general and financial news. Verizon points out that Yahoo News is the fastest growing news organization on TikTok, according to research.

Under the agreement, Verizon will receive $4.25 billion in cash, $750 million in preferred interests and will retain 10 percent of the new Yahoo’s shares. In addition to AOL and Yahoo, several ad companies and media platforms fall under Verizon media. Tech websites Engadget and TechCrunch, among others, are Verizon Media companies. The acquisition is expected to be completed in the second half of the year.

Verizon acquired AOL in 2015 for $4.4 billion, Yahoo followed a year later for a $4.8 billion acquisition. With the two companies, Verizon wanted to compete with Google and Facebook in the field of advertising, among other things. Recently, the company has focused less and less on media, for example, almost two years ago the company sold microblogging site Tumblr.

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