Internet pioneer Yahoo appears close to a deal to sell its core online assets to telecom giant Verizon. Several media reports hinted an official announcement was likely to be made in the course of Monday.
Media reports suggested Monday that Yahoo would be selling it main assets for about $5 billion (4.5 billion euros) to telecom company Verizon, thus ending a 20-year run as an independent firm as an Internet pioneer.
“The New York Times” said the takeover would almost certainly include the popular Yahoo News, Mail and other online services used by more than a billion people globally.
But the tie-up looked set to exclude the hefty Yahoo stakes in Chinese online giant Alibaba and Yahoo Japan.
Lot of catching up to do
If the takeover comes about, one of the best-known names of the early Internet era would experience a dramatic fall, considering that Yahoo had a valuation of over $100 billion before the dot-com collapse in the year 2000.
While Yahoo has remained a major force online, it has increasingly been lagging behind its rivals in its ability to monetize its services through advertising.
The company has been in restructuring mode for nearly four years under Chief Executive Marissa Mayer, who came from Google in an effort to help Yahoo regain its past glory.
Media reports said Verizon would be best suited for a takeover because of its ability to integrate AOL’s advertising technology into Yahoo services.
The “Wall Street Journal” said Verizon would keep the Yahoo brand intact after an acquisition and use the huge online audience to build a rival to Google and Facebook in the field of online advertising.
hg/sri (AFP, dpa)
