Yahoo has agreed to sell its core assets to telecom giant Verizon for $4.8bn, ending a 20-year run by the internet pioneer as an independent company.
Verizon chief executive Lowell McAdam announced on Monday that Yahoo would be integrated into its recently acquired AOL unit to create “a top global mobile media company, and help to accelerate our revenue stream in digital advertising”.
The acquisition, expected to close in early 2017, will exclude Yahoo’s cash, certain patent holdings, and its big share in China’s Alibaba Group and stake in Yahoo Japan.
Al Jazeera revealed that the deal will leave Yahoo as a separate investment company that will change its name after the transaction.
“Yahoo is a company that has changed the world, and will continue to do so through this combination with Verizon and AOL,” Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo, said in a statement.