Verizon Executive Says Company Unsure About Yahoo Deal (reuters.com)

A senior executive of Verizon said on Thursday the company was unsure about its planned acquisition of Yahoo's internet business. From a report on Reuters: "I can't sit here today and say with confidence one way or another because we still don't know," Marni Walden, president of product innovation and new businesses, said at the Citi 2017 Internet, Media & Telecommunications Conference in Las Vegas.To walk away, Verizon likely will have to show the overall value of Yahoo has declined as a result of the two hacking disclosures. "I have to have certain facts in order to be able to make a decision," she told WSJ. "There's a lot of stuff we don't know."

Comments

Re:Security is just a cost with no upside?

[HornWumpus]

It's already cost a billion $ in lower offer. It might still cost them the rest.

I think this is a very good thing. A company needs to be made an example of, Yahoo can disappear and nothing of value will be lost.

Re:How do you go below zero?

[HornWumpus]

The key question is: How much are the Alibaba holdings really worth.

China says you can't sell them, marking them to the Shanghai market is fiction.

Re:How do you go below zero?

[EndlessNameless]

Verizon can't just roll with some smartass reporter's comments about the drop in value.

They have to be prepared to prove it in court if they back out of the agreement.

I'm fairly sure that Yahoo is worthless as a tech company, but the contract probably has a lot of conditions and stipulations in it. This isn't like returning a TV to Best Buy when it doesn't work the way you thought it would.

Re:Make the deal

[DickBreath]

I wish a few years ago that Microsoft had gone through with blowing its wad (about 41 billiion) on Yahoo. It would have de-fanged Microsoft quite a bit. Been one more glorious achievement of Ballmer. Also both the technical clash and culture clash between the two would have provided years of entertaining watching.

Re:Still think female CEO's are cool, kids?

[__aaclcg7560]

[...] but the four Chicago assholes torturing a guy with mental deficiencies is ... a non-story.

That's funny. I found your "non-story" on the front page of the NY Times website.

http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/04/us/chicago-racially-charged-attack-video.html

Re:Run, don't walk.

[sexconker]

Yup. Verizon is only interested in the buyout for the user data. That user data is available for a song now on the "dark web", and advertisers who are interested in it already have a copy.

Re:How do you go below zero?

[HornWumpus]

The deal hasn't closed. We'll see what they get in the end.

If you make an offer on a house, enter escrow, then learn the house has termites (the owner knew it and didn't disclose) the offer becomes, more or less, meaningless. Depending on the state you live in and the contingencies you wrote into the offer.