Verizon and Yahoo agree to $4.48 billion purchase price

Following lengthy debates and much fall out at the news that Yahoo had suffered a number of breaches over the past few years, a deal has been reached for the planned Verizon buyout. It won't be quite the near $5 billion initially offered, but neither has Yahoo lost a billion because of the hacks. Instead, an agreement has been reached for a figure of $4.48 (£3.59) billion.

The deal between Verizon and the once-upon-a-time web giant, Yahoo, was originally announced in June last year, but following several revelations about hacks which had hit the company in recent years, it seemed clear Verizon wasn't quite as keen. Over the past six months we've heard multiple times that Verizon was debating down the price it expected to pay for Yahoo's core businesses and user databases and it ultimately shaved around $500 million from the price tag.

The deal was signed on Sunday, after an agreement in principle was reached just over a week ago. The final deal is now expected to close in the second quarter, though there may be some delay for the integration of all of Yahoo's services with Verizon's business due to the hacks, as per Reuters.

Although the purchase of Yahoo is not a deal everyone thinks is a great plan, considering Yahoo's status in the industry and its weakened security, Verizon does acquire a reasonably strong online advertising business as part of the deal. While Yahoo hasn't turned a profit in some time, it does generate over $5 billion in annual revenue, which if managed better, could potentially add something to Verizon's existing online advertising presence.

The buyout also gives Verizon access to over a billion users. While many of them may have moved on from Yahoo's services, the marketing potential is certainly there and for those that do still use Yahoo services, it's possible that they could see some benefits from the buyout.

As part of the move, Verizon made sure to secure a joint liability agreement, which would still see Yahoo independently responsible for any shareholder lawsuits or SEC investigations.

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KitGuru Says: The question now, is does Yahoo CEO, Marissa Mayer, get her $55 million+ payout for the company selling?

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