Marissa Mayer Will Exit Yahoo Board if Verizon Deal Goes Through

Yahoo will also change its name to Altaba Inc. if deal is done
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jan 9, 2017 8:16 PM CST
Marissa Mayer Will Exit Yahoo Board if Verizon Deal Goes Through
In this Feb. 19, 2015, file photo, Yahoo President and CEO Marissa Mayer delivers the keynote address at the first-ever Yahoo Mobile Developer Conference in San Francisco.   (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)

Yahoo will adopt a new corporate identity and slash the size of its board if the proposed $4.8 billion sale of its digital services to Verizon Communications goes through, the AP reports. The company plans to change its name to Altaba Inc. after it turns over its email, websites, mobile apps, and advertising tools to Verizon. The new name is meant to reflect Yahoo's transformation into a holding company for investments in China's e-commerce leader, Alibaba Group, and Yahoo Japan that are worth more than $40 billion combined. Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, co-founder David Filo, and four other directors currently on the company's 11-member board will resign after the planned sale to Verizon closes. Verizon is expected to retain Yahoo's brand under its ownership.

But the Verizon deal has been jeopardized by Yahoo's recent discovery of two computer hacking attacks that stole personal information from more than 1 billion user accounts during two different intrusions that occurred in 2013 and 2014. Verizon is reassessing whether it should renegotiate the sales price or perhaps cancel the deal in light of hacking revelations that could trigger a backlash among Yahoo users upset about sensitive personal details being stolen. Yahoo is fighting to keep the deal intact. In the only change that took effect Monday, Yahoo Director Eric Brandt became the company's chairman. He replaces Maynard Webb, who becomes chairman emeritus until the Verizon deal closes. (More Yahoo stories.)

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