YAHOO EMAIL HACK COULD TORPEDO VERIZON BUY: REPORT

Verizon Communications Inc.’s top lawyer said it would be reasonable to assume that the hack into Yahoo Inc.’ s email accounts represents a material impact to the phone carrier’s acquisition of the Internet company’s online businesses, a person familiar with the matter said. Verizon hasn’t definitively concluded that there was a material impact and is still waiting for Yahoo to complete its investigation into the situation, said the person, who asked not to be identified discussing private information. Reuters reported earlier Thursday that Verizon general counsel Craig Silliman saw reasonable basis for a material impact, which could let the company withdraw completely from the US$ 4.83- billion deal. Yahoo is confident in its value and continues “to work toward integration with Verizon,” the company said in an emailed statement. Shares of Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo fell as much as 2.8 per cent after the Reuters report. They closed down 1.75 per cent at US$41.62 in New York, while Verizon’s were little changed at US$50.29.