One asset that Verizon will be getting as part of its $4.83 billion acquisition of Yahoo’s core assets, which it did not specifically mention in its big announcement today, is Yahoo’s (in)famous brand — main name, purple color and exclamation mark all included. This, in turn, means that when the deal is completed (expected Q1 2017) the remaining Yahoo will rename itself and will become a separate, registered publicly traded investment business, the company said today.
It’s not clear if Verizon and AOL (which owns us, TechCrunch) intend to keep the Yahoo! branding that they are acquiring. Generally, they’ve held on to brands when ingesting them, and like it or hate it, Yahoo’s brand is huge.
As of today, the business that will stay behind post-acquisition by Verizon includes Yahoo’s cash, its shares in Alibaba and Yahoo Japan, Yahoo’s convertible notes, certain minority investments, and Yahoo’s non-core patents (called the Excalibur portfolio).
IP that is connected specifically to Yahoo’s core assets will be part of the Verizon acquisition, and Yahoo is still looking for a separate deal for the roughly 2,600 patents that are in the Excalibur portfolio. That portfolio is estimated at upwards of $1 billion by Yahoo.
The shares in Alibaba and Yahoo Japan, meanwhile respectively are valued at $31.2 billion and $8.3 billion.
Yahoo says it “intends to return substantially all of its net cash to shareholders and will determine and communicate a specific capital return strategy at an appropriate time.”
As for Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer — who was hired to turn around the company but ultimately did not succeed despite years of acquisitions and big plans — she confirms directly that she will stay on for the next stage but does not indicate where she will go eventually.
“For me personally, I’m planning to stay. I love Yahoo, and I believe in all of you. It’s important to me to see Yahoo into its next chapter,” she notes in her memo to Yahoos.
It’s notable that in Verizon’s news release it does not indicate any specific title or role for her as part of the sale, although AOL CEO Tim Armstrong mentions her helping with the transition to Verizon in his own memo.
Sources: TechCrunch
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