Verizon Sells Digital Media Assets, Including AOL And Yahoo, For $5B

Verizon Communications Inc. VZ confirmed Monday it has sold its Verizon Media assets, including the AOL and Yahoo platforms, to Apollo Global Management, Inc. APO for $5 billion.

What Happened: Verizon will retain a 10% stake in the company and CEO Guru Gowrappan will retain the leadership role. Verizon Media will be renamed Yahoo by its new owner.

“We are thrilled to help unlock the tremendous potential of Yahoo and its unparalleled collection of brands,” said Reed Rayman, private equity partner at Apollo. “We have enormous respect and admiration for the great work and progress that the entire organization has made over the last several years, and we look forward to working with Guru, his talented team, and our partners at Verizon to accelerate Yahoo’s growth in its next chapter.”

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Why It Happened: Verizon acquired AOL in 2015 and Yahoo in 2017, and the combined transactions totaled more than $9 billion. Both platforms had been dominant figures in the early days of the Internet, but their influence declined over the years as the online world shifted to social media and mobile apps.

Verizon will now focus its energies on expanding its 5G capabilities while pursuing partnerships with streaming services including Walt Disney Co.’s DIS Disney+ and Hulu, with Verizon can incorporate into its wireless and home Internet offerings.

(Image by Simon / Pixabay.)