The Verizon acquisition of Yahoo has now officially closed and Yahoo's CEO, Marissa Mayer, has resigned her position. The acquisition, estimated to be worth more than $4 billion, received shareholder approval last week, with Mayer being granted a 'golden parachute' of approximately $23 million in her exit from the company.
Verizon has stated that it is planning to combine Yahoo with its AOL assets to create a subsidiary called Oath, which will cover more than 50 media brands and over 1 billion customers globally. Tim Armstrong, the former CEO of AOL, has been chosen to lead the new conglomerate.
It is expected that nearly 15 percent of all Yahoo staff will be cut as a result of the acquisition, with roles in areas such as operations, sales and marketing being affected. In addition, several Board members have left Yahoo in the wake of Mayer's departure, including Jane Shaw, Maynard Webb Jr., David Filo, Richard Hill and Eddy Hartenstein. Verizon has no shortage of staff, as it currently employs more than 160,000 people and earned approximately $126 billion in sales revenues in 2016.
The Yahoo acquisition is another example of the ongoing mergers that are happening in the media industry today as multinational companies seek to grab a larger share of the online customer base as they compete with global giants such as Google and Facebook. Many carriers are also looking to offset recent declines in their legacy business and are struggling to adapt to growing demands from more technologically-savvy and price-conscious customers.