Verizon Executive Says Yahoo Acquisition Up in Air While Breach Probes Continue
Executive Vice President Marni Walden said Verizon hasn't decided if it will proceed with the $4.83 billion acquisition of Yahoo, which disclosed two breaches over the past three months that compromised a combined 1.5 billion user accounts in 2013 and…
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2014 (see 1609220046 and 1612150010). "Unfortunately, I can’t sit here today and say, you know, with confidence, one way or the other, because we still don’t know," she said during a Thursday webcast session of a Citigroup investor conference in Las Vegas, home to the ongoing CES. Investigations need to be completed, she said, and Verizon needs to ensure it's being responsible to shareholders and getting value out of Yahoo. In response to a question from an audience member about when Verizon will make a decision, Walden said she's "not going to put a time frame on it because I honestly don't have a time frame," but "it will take weeks at least. We'll take as long as we need but our goal is not to drag it out. But I have to have certain facts to be able to make a good decision." During a CNBC interview earlier in the day, Verizon's AOL CEO Tim Armstrong said he was hopeful the deal would close though he cautioned the investigation is ongoing. Asked if Verizon would ask for a discount on the deal, he declined to comment but said the focus is to ensure the culture and teams from both companies work well in terms of a potential integration. A Yahoo spokeswoman emailed, "We are confident in Yahoo’s value and we continue to work towards integration with Verizon."