The second incarnation of Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational technology company that focuses on media and online business. The current incarnation of the company was formed in 2017.

Verizon Communications Verizon Communications Inc., commonly known as Verizon, is an American multinational telecommunications conglomerate and a corporate component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is headquartered at 1095 Avenue of the Americas in ...

acquired AOL in 2015, and later purchased several assets from the previous incarnation of Yahoo! Inc., in 2017. The two entities would merge into a new subsidiary named Oath Inc. later that year. In December 2018, Verizon announced it would

write down A write-off is a reduction of the recognized value of something. In accounting, this is a recognition of the reduced or zero value of an asset. In income tax statements, this is a reduction of taxable income, as a recognition of certain expenses ...

the combined value of its purchases of AOL and Yahoo! by $4.6 billion, roughly half. The company would be renamed Verizon Media the following month in January 2019. On May 3, 2021, Verizon announced that 90 percent of the division would be acquired by Apollo Global Management for roughly $5 billion, and would simply be known as Yahoo after the agreement comes to a close. Verizon would retain a 10% stake in the new group. The acquisition was completed on September 1, 2021.

History

Under Verizon (2017–2021)

The company maintains dual headquarters at the former AOL and Yahoo! headquarters buildings in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...

, New York, and

Sunnyvale, California Sunnyvale () is a city located in the Santa Clara Valley in northwest Santa Clara County in the U.S. state of California. Sunnyvale lies along the historic El Camino Real and Highway 101 and is bordered by portions of San Jose to the no ...

, respectively. , the company employed about 10,350 people. A year after the completion of the AOL acquisition, Verizon announced a $4.8 billion deal for Yahoo!'s core Internet business, to invest in the Internet company's

search Searching or search may refer to: Computing technology * Search algorithm, including keyword search ** :Search algorithms * Search and optimization for problem solving in artificial intelligence * Search engine technology, software for findi ...

, news, finance,

sport Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...

video Video is an Electronics, electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving picture, moving image, visual Media (communication), media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, whi ...

, emails and

Tumblr Tumblr (stylized as tumblr; pronounced "tumbler") is an American microblogging and social networking website founded by David Karp in 2007 and currently owned by Automattic. The service allows users to post multimedia and other content to a ...

products. Yahoo! announced in September and December 2016 two major

Internet security Internet security is a branch of computer security. It encompasses the Internet, browser security, web site security, and network security as it applies to other applications or operating systems as a whole. Its objective is to establish rules ...

breaches affecting more than a billion customers. As a result, Verizon lowered its offer for Yahoo! by $350 million to $4.48 billion. The AOL deal and subsequent Yahoo! purchase were led by Verizon's management team, including Lowell McAdam (CEO), Marni Walden (EVP Product) and

Tim Armstrong Timothy Ross Armstrong (born November 25, 1965) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and producer. Known for his distinctive voice, he is the singer/guitarist for the punk rock band Rancid and hip hop/punk rock supergroup Transplants. ...

. Walden had been tasked with merging the two entities and delivering on the promise of moving Verizon from an analog to digital platforms business. Walden exited Verizon in 2017 and as later events revealed, the integration did not deliver the expected value. Oath, Inc

Two months before closing the deal for Yahoo!, Verizon announced it would place Yahoo! and AOL under an umbrella named Oath. The deal closed on June 13, 2017, and Oath was launched. Upon completion of the deal, Yahoo! CEO

Marissa Mayer Marissa Ann Mayer (; born May 30, 1975) is an American businesswoman and investor. She is an information technology executive, and co-founder of Sunshine Contacts. Mayer formerly served as the president and chief executive officer of Yahoo!, a ...

resigned. Yahoo! operations not acquired in the deal were renamed Altaba, a holding company whose primary assets are its 15.5 percent stake in Alibaba Group and 35.5 percent stake in

Yahoo! Japan is a Japanese internet company originally formed as a joint venture between the American internet company Yahoo! (later divested by Verizon into Altaba) and the Japanese company SoftBank. It is headquartered at Kioi Tower in the Tokyo Garden Terr ...

. After the merger, Oath cut fifteen percent of the Yahoo-AOL workforce. In 2018, Altaba sold

SoftBank Group is a Japanese multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo which focuses on investment management. The Group primarily invests in companies operating in technology, energy, and financial sectors. It also runs the ...

. In April 2018, Helios and Matheson acquired the

Moviefone Moviefone is an American-based moving pictures listing and information service. Moviegoers can obtain local showtimes, cinema information, film reviews, and advance tickets, as well as TV content and a comprehensive search tool that allows users ...

movie listings website from Oath. As part of the transaction, Verizon took a stake in Helios and Matheson Analytics stock. In May 2018, Verizon and

Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...

agreed to terms that would preload four Oath applications ("apps") onto

Samsung Galaxy S9 The Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ are Android-based smartphones unveiled, manufactured, released and marketed by Samsung Electronics as part of the Samsung Galaxy S series. The devices were revealed at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on 25 F ...

smartphones. The agreement includes Oath's Newsroom,

Yahoo! Sports Yahoo! Sports is a sports news website launched by Yahoo! on December 8, 1997. It receives a majority of its information from STATS, Inc. It employs numerous writers, and has team pages for teams in almost every North American major sport. Be ...

Yahoo! Finance Yahoo! Finance is a media property that is part of the Yahoo! network. It provides financial news, data and commentary including stock quotes, press releases, financial reports, and original content. It also offers some online tools for pers ...

, and

go90 go90 was an American Internet television service and mobile app owned and operated by Verizon Communications. The service was positioned as a mobile-oriented "social entertainment platform" targeted primarily towards millennials, featuring a mi ...

mobile video apps (closed in July 2018), with integration of native Oath advertisements into both the Oath apps and Samsung's own Galaxy and Game Launcher apps. On September 12, 2018, it was announced that K. Guru Gowrappan would succeed Tim Armstrong as CEO, effective October 1. On December 3, 2018, the company declared a new set of rules for the Tumblr community that took effect December 17, 2018, banning "adult content". This move raised objections that it harms their LGBTQ community, sexual abuse survivors, sex workers, adult content blogs, and other bloggers. The move came after the Tumblr app was removed from the Apple App Store due to issues with child pornography, leading some to speculate that the ban may have been made to regain access to the App Store. In December 2018, Verizon announced that it was cutting 10% of Oath's workforce and would write down the value of the business by $4.6B. Verizon management blamed competitive pressures and that the business never achieved the anticipated benefits. The move wiped out all of the goodwill on the balance sheets that accompanied the acquisitions. Verizon Media logo

On January 8, 2019, Oath was renamed Verizon Media. In April 2018, Verizon sold

Flickr Flickr ( ; ) is an American image hosting and video hosting service, as well as an online community, founded in Canada and headquartered in the United States. It was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and was a popular way for amateur and professiona ...

to SmugMug, for an undisclosed amount. In August 2019, Verizon sold

Automattic Automattic Inc. is an American global distributed company which was founded in August 2005 and is most notable for WordPress.com (a freemium blogging service), as well as its contributions to WordPress (an open source blogging software). The co ...

, the owner of WordPress.com, for an undisclosed amount which was reportedly less than $3 million. In November 2020, Verizon sold

HuffPost ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

BuzzFeed BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John S. Johnson III to focus on tracking viral content. ...

. in an all-stock deal, remaining minority shareholder in Buzzfeed.

As Yahoo (2021–present)

On May 3, 2021, Verizon announced that the Verizon Media would be acquired by Apollo Global Management for roughly $5 billion, and would simply be known as Yahoo following the closure of the deal, with Verizon retaining a minor 10% stake in the new group. The acquisition was completed on September 1, 2021, with the company now known as Yahoo. On September 10, 2021, Jim Lanzone, who had most recently served as CEO of

Tinder Tinder is easily combustible material used to start a fire. Tinder is a finely divided, open material which will begin to glow under a shower of sparks. Air is gently wafted over the glowing tinder until it bursts into flame. The flaming tinder i ...

, was named CEO of Yahoo, succeeding Gowrappan.

Brands

Some of the digital media brands under Yahoo include: * AOL *

Autoblog A spam blog, also known as an auto blog or the neologism splog, is a blog which the author uses to promote affiliated websites, to increase the search engine rankings of associated sites or to simply sell links/ads. The purpose of a splog can be ...

Built by Girls Built by Girls (previously known as Cambio), is a New York-based organization that helps girls ages 15–22 get involved in technology by offering mentorship, and guidance. The company is owned and operated by Yahoo! Inc. In 2016, BUILTBYGIRLS l ...

* ''

Engadget ''Engadget'' ( ) is a multilingual technology blog network with daily coverage of gadgets and consumer electronics. ''Engadget'' manages ten blogs four of which are written in English and six have international versions with independent editor ...

'' * Flurry * In the Know * Makers *

Rivals A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant ...

TechCrunch TechCrunch is an American online newspaper focusing on high tech and startup companies. It was founded in June 2005 by Archimedes Ventures, led by partners Michael Arrington and Keith Teare. In 2010, AOL acquired the company for approximat ...

Yahoo! Yahoo! (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and operated by the namesake company Yahoo! Inc. (2017–present), Yahoo Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds ma ...

(including

, Yahoo! Mail,

Yahoo! News Yahoo! News is a news website that originated as an internet-based news aggregator by Yahoo!. The site was created by a Yahoo! software engineer named Brad Clawsie in August 1996. Articles originally came from news services such as the Associa ...

, Yahoo! Life, Yahoo! Entertainment, Yahoo Fantasy and Yahoo! Sportsbook.)

Divested

(sold to SmugMug in 2018) *

(sold to Helios and Matheson in 2018) * Polyvore (sold and merged into SSENSE in 2018) *

MapQuest MapQuest (stylized as mapquest) is an American free online web mapping service. It was launched in 1996 as the first commercial web mapping service. MapQuest vies for market share with competitors such as Google Maps and Here. History MapQuest ...

(sold to System1 in 2019) *

(sold to WordPress.com owner

in 2019) * ''

'' (sold to

in 2020) * Edgecast (sold and merged into Edgio in 2022) It had partial ownership of

's former parent company, Helios and Matheson Analytics Inc., until its liquidation in 2020.

Discontinued

Alto Mail Alto Mail was a multi-service email client and proprietary email intelligence engine built to analyze and restructure incoming emails and calendar events by Oath Inc. It supported IMAP email providers like Gmail, Microsoft Outlook, Outlook, Yahoo, ...

(discontinued on December 10, 2017) * AIM (discontinued on December 15, 2017) *

(closed on July 31, 2018) *

Yahoo! Messenger Yahoo! Messenger (sometimes abbreviated Y!M) was an advertisement-supported instant messaging client and associated protocol provided by Yahoo!. Yahoo! Messenger was provided free of charge and could be downloaded and used with a generic "Yahoo I ...

(discontinued on July 17, 2018) * Yahoo! Together (discontinued in April 2019)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yahoo (2017-present) 2017 establishments in New York City American companies established in 2017 Apollo Global Management companies Internet properties established in 2017 Mass media companies established in 2017 Mass media companies based in New York City Mass media companies of the United States Online mass media companies of the United States 2021 mergers and acquisitions Re-established companies