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Verizon Revises Its Deal With Yahoo, Reduces Price Of Acquisition By $350M (techcrunch.com)

Posted by msmash on from the adjustments dept.

Ingrid Lunden, writing for TechCrunch: After the disclosure of two massive data breaches last year, today Yahoo and Verizon finally confirmed new terms for the sale of Yahoo to Verizon: Verizon will pay $350 million less than originally planned, working out to a price of $4.48 billion to acquire Yahoo. The two have also agreed to share legal and regulatory liabilities after the massive data breach at Yahoo, which affected some 1.5 billion users across two hacks, one revealed in September 2016, and another in December 2016.

11 of 49 comments (clear)

  1. Are they by Big+Hairy+Ian · · Score: 3, Informative

    Bat shit crazy? Yahoo's credibility at the moment is sub zero

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    Build a Man a Fire, and He'll Be Warm for a Day. Set a Man on Fire, and He'll Be Warm for the Rest of His Life.

    1. Re:Are they by Narcocide · · Score: 2

      Let me help you read between the lines. Verizon knew all along. They have no intent of letting that foreknowledge scuttle the deal, but they have to keep up public appearances, so they work out a "discount" cover story.

    2. Re:Are they by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      They want the patents, the user data, and the stake in Alibaba. The fact that Yahoo is a dumpster fire doesn't concern them.

    3. Re:Are they by Zocalo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      They want the patents, the user data, and the stake in Alibaba.

      Still vastly overpriced when you consider that the bulk of the user data is available for a hell of a lot less on the darknet (and not so darknet), so any exclusivity you might have had to it is long gone - anyone else who wants the data can have it well - and it's anyone's guess how many accounts are still truly active. There's also the general push back against tech-patents that don't involve actual tangible innovations (e.g. most - if not all - of the Yahoo! portfolio) and how much you generally need to spend on lawyers to leverage any patent assets you may have. Even you manage to successfully navigate the minefield of prior-art, amicus briefs opposing your claims, and convince a jury who quite probably has no real idea what anyone is talking about, there's still no guarantee the judge will award the massive damages you are hoping for, and the process can takes years of bad PR too - see Oracle vs. Google and (of course) SCO vs. The World.

      The Alibaba stock is definitely worth something though, but in that case Verizon might actually be better off just using some third parties to buy up Alibaba shares on the open market rather than going the the pains of a trying to pick over Yahoo!'s carcass for any remaining scraps of fat and gristle that might still have a tiny bit of residual value. It's surely not going to be too long before Yahoo! would be forced to start selling off assets to keep the lights on anyway, and since the only real asset it has that it can sell is its stake in Alibaba...

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      UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
    4. Re:Are they by speedplane · · Score: 2

      Still vastly overpriced when you consider that the bulk of the user data is available for a hell of a lot less on the darknet (and not so darknet), so any exclusivity you might have had to it is long gone - anyone else who wants the data can have it well - and it's anyone's guess how many accounts are still truly active.

      No legitimate company can use illegitimate data from the dark net and not risk a massive lawsuit. Far cheaper to purchase it legitimately.

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  2. In Other News by Big+Hairy+Ian · · Score: 4, Funny

    Stock prices at several major tech giants plunged over night as it was revealed they had been in receipt of Marissa Mayer resume

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    Build a Man a Fire, and He'll Be Warm for a Day. Set a Man on Fire, and He'll Be Warm for the Rest of His Life.

  3. Is that all by DarkOx · · Score: 2

    So the impairment of yahoo's online assets after two and probably a third massive breach is less than ten percent of the value. This is not actually a very good argument for big investments in security.

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    1. Re:Is that all by Jaime2 · · Score: 2

      Due to the cost of security breaches being borne primarily by victims, investing in security has never been a good financial decision. That's the primary reason that security sucks in the IT industry. If it weren't for public shaming and the associated damage to a company's image, it would be even worse.

  4. Shhhhhh, shhhhhhh by Isendur · · Score: 2

    I have altered the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further.

  5. What happens to AT&T Mail? by sconeu · · Score: 2

    If the acquisition goes through, Verizon will be in the interesting position of controlling a competitor's email servers.

    AT&T Internet uses Yahoo for its email services.

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    General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
  6. So what they are saying is: by The-Ixian · · Score: 2

    The price tag for a 1,000,000,000+ account data breach is $350 million.

    Management calculus: Will this security system cost more than $.35/account? Yes? Don't bother... We'll put that money into our bank accounts instead.

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