It has been quite the saga, filled with mammoth data breaches and billion-dollar discounts, but finally Verizon has closed its $4.48 billion acquisition of Yahoo’s core business. There was, however, another twist and the end of this story – one that was not a huge surprise. Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer who tried to steady the Yahoo ship through poor financials, job cuts and data breaches has decided to quit the company, saying in a memo to employees:
“Given the inherent changes to my role, I’ll be leaving the company.”.
“However, I want all of you to know that I’m brimming with nostalgia, gratitude, and optimism.”
READ MORE: CEO pay cut, 32m hacked in cookie attack and top lawyer walks – it just keeps going from bad to worse for Yahoo
The Verizon acquisition marks the end of Yahoo as a stand-alon internet company, often regarded as an early internet pioneer and once valued at more than $100 billion.
For Verizon its onwards and upwards, with the wireless operator planning to combine Yahoo with AOL to form a new company called Oath. AOL CEO Tim Armstrong is set to lead the new company, with the new Oath boss boldy stating that the new company would “reach over a billion people each month.” In further comments made in a note seen by Reuters, Armstorng also said that “accomplishing our objectives and goals will require adjustments to the company.”
READ MORE: AOL, Yahoo make Oath for new combined company
Armstrong also said that the “opportunity in front of us is not about the opinions from the pundits and it is not about the competition, it is about our ability to maniacally focus on delivering magical services to mobile enabled consumers.”
The CEO’s ‘readjustment’ may refer to the fact that Verizon plans to cut about 2,000 jobs – 15% – of the 14,000 employees at the new combined company Oath.
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While the axe looms for workers at Oath, the remainder of Yahoo will be renamed Altaba. The holding company will retain its primary assets in Alibaba Group Holding and Yahoo Japan Corp. Yahoo board member Thomas McInerney will become Altaba’s CEO.
