According to reports on Tuesday, US telecoms giant Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) has closed an agreement with Internet giant Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) to take-over the company’s core internet business for $350 million less than initially agreed.
In the recent days, there were doubts surrounding the original deal after it appeared that Yahoo was a victim of two massive cyber-attacks.
After the price-cut, Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) said it is ready to take over Yahoo business for about $4.48 billion.
According to the latest agreement Yahoo and Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) will share the cost of any kind of lawsuits against the data breaches.
Reports said, Verizon aims to merge Yahoo’s search, email and messenger assets, as well as its advertising technology tools, with its AOL division. Verizon purchased AOL in 2015 for $4.4 billion.
Verizon reportedly sees mobile video and advertising as new sources of revenue outside an over-crowded US telecoms market.
In December last year Yahoo self-confessed that it had been hit by a large cyber-attack in 2013 to breach more than billion customer accounts.
The company previously disclosed another breach in 2014 that had affected about half a billion users.
According to the new agreement Yahoo and Verizon will each be liable for 50% of any charges arising from government inquiries and third party lawsuit related to the data breaches.
Meanwhile Yahoo will be completely accountable for any problems arising from shareholder lawsuits and Securities and Exchange Commission investigations.
Furthermore Marni Walden, Verizon executive vice president said: “The amended terms of the agreement provide a fair and favourable outcome for shareholders. It provides protections for both sides and delivers a clear path to close the transaction in the second quarter.”
However, this agreement does not offer Verizon Communications (VZ) any chunk of Yahoo’s stake in Chinese online retailer Alibaba.
The asking price for the buyout is well less the $44 billion Microsoft offered for Yahoo! (YHOO) in 2008, or the $125 billion it was priced during the early internet era.
