The giant is slain. That’s the news as Yahoo is getting ready to announce a massive deal that will sell the company to the telecommunications company, Verizon. The exclusive deal is expected to be announced on Monday, but could be sped up or delayed depending on circumstances.
Amid a field of buyers which included TPG and a private group led by Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert, Yahoo ultimately decided to ink a deal with Verizon for $4.8 billion. The deal still needs regulatory approval and a host of integration issues, and finally, board approval.
The biggest hurdle involves the actual integration of Yahoo into Verizon. This is partly due to Yahoo’s many assets, including high-profile (and expensive) branches like Tumblr and Yahoo Sports which function relatively well on their own.
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is not expected to stay after the deal, and AOL head Tim Armstrong is expected to oversee the difficult acquisition.
This deal has been a long time coming, as reports of Yahoo’s willingness to sell itself off became a trending news topic among tech circles. Rumors that Yahoo approached big names like Google and Facebook have been cropping up in news cycles, but it was followed by news that the company was also rebuked by those same big names.
This is probably not the most glamorous time for the once-giant search engine whose biggest asset turned out to be a large stake in the Chinese giant Alibaba. Rest in peace Yahoo, I should probably tell my mom to make a Gmail account.
