Verizon may walk away from Yahoo deal
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Two weeks after Yahoo disclosed its enormous data breach, Verizon is wavering on its $4.83 billion acquisition:
"Unfortunately I can't sit here today and say with confidence one way or the other because we still don't know... I have to have certain facts in order to be able to make a decision. There's a lot of stuff we don't know." — Verizon executive vice president Marni Walden today at an investor conference.
Why this matters: It's the first time Verizon has publicly expressed doubts about the deal since Yahoo said 1.5 billion users accounts were compromised by a data breaches. Verizon is weighing options to renegotiate the deal to get a lower price or walk away altogether, the WSJ reports.
The goal: Verizon originally pursued this deal to grow its digital audience and get more online advertising inventory with Yahoo's properties, expanding its digital foothold started with the 2015 purchase of AOL.
The Other Side: Another Verizon executive is still bullish about the deal. Tim Armstrong, who runs the AOL business and is behind the Yahoo deal, said on CNBC today that he is "hopeful that the deal will continue to go through."
