Yahoo delays sale of core business to Verizon
SAN FRANCISCO: Yahoo said its US$4.8 billion deal to sell its core internet assets to US telecom titan Verizon has been delayed several months.
The closing originally set for this quarter has been pushed into next quarter due to “work required to meet closing conditions,” the California online pioneer said in a statement, adding that it was “working expeditiously to close the transaction as soon as practicable.”
The news came in an earnings release showing Yahoo swung to a profit of US$162 million in the final three months of last year.
The deal with Verizon, which would end Yahoo’s run of more than 20 years as an independent company, has been thrown into doubt following disclosures of two huge data breaches.
Yahoo said it is ramping up security as it grapples with the aftermath of epic hacks.
“Our top priority continues to be enhancing security for our users,” Yahoo chief executive Marissa Mayer said.
She added that “approximately 90 per cent of our daily active users have already taken or do not need to take remedial action to protect their accounts, and we’re aggressively continuing to drive this number up.”
Yahoo boasted having more than a billion users monthly in 2016, with more than 650 million of those people connecting from mobile devices.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission has opened an investigation into whether Yahoo should have informed investors sooner about two major data breaches, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter.