Altaba to be the new name of Yahoo

DN Bureau



 

dynamitenews.com

Sunnyvale, USA/ 10 January 2017. Yahoo Inc. said Monday it will whittle down its board after completing its deal with Verizon Communications Inc., and several longtime directors, including Chief Executive Marissa Mayer and co-founder David Filo, will step down as directors.

 

After the sale of its core internet business, the company will change its name to Altaba Inc. from RemainCo, Yahoo said in a regulatory filing. Altaba’s remaining assets include Yahoo’s stake in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Yahoo Japan. The name is a combination of the words “alternate” and “Alibaba,” a person familiar with the matter said.

 

Eric Brandt, who joined Yahoo’s board last March and is the former chief financial officer of Broadcom Corp., will become chairman of Altaba, according to the filing. Four other directors who are currently on Yahoo’s board, including Thomas McInerney, who was part of the independent committee of Yahoo directors running the auction process last year, will join him.

 

The moves would happen after the closing of the roughly $4.8 billion sale to Verizon, which has been endangered by two huge hacks of Yahoo’s user data. In the filing, Yahoo said Verizon could terminate its purchase of Yahoo or renegotiate the terms because of the hacks.

 

Verizon has become less certain that the deal will go through after a second breach of one billion accounts was revealed last month. The breaches could be a material event that would allow Verizon to change the terms of the deal, executives have said.

 

The terms of that deal could be amended - or the transaction may even be called off - after Yahoo last year disclosed two separate data breaches; one involving some 500 million customer accounts and the second involving over a billion.

 

Verizon executives have said that while they see a strong strategic fit with Yahoo, they are still investigating the data breaches.

 

Five other Yahoo directors would also resign after the deal closes, Yahoo said in a regulatory filing on Monday.