Andre Yoskowitz
6 Oct 2016 23:50
Over the summer, Verizon agreed to acquire struggling web pioneer Yahoo for $4.8 billion but a new report claims that Verizon wants a hefty discount following Yahoo's most recent hacking scandal.
According to the NYPost, AOL CEO Tim Armstrong could be "getting cold feet" and is "pretty upset about the lack of disclosure and he's saying can we get out of this or can we reduce the price?" Armstrong runs the Verizon division that would control Yahoo.
Yahoo is currently under attack by consumers and U.S. officials following two scandals. The company recently announced that hackers accessed over 500 million accounts, stealing passwords and personal information and the SEC is likely to open an investigation into the company's lack of disclosures. In addition, there have been reports that Yahoo allowed the NSA and FBI to scan hundreds of millions of emails secretly, causing an outrage for consumers.
It is unclear if Verizon has any recourse to drop the price or cancel the deal, but if Yahoo did not disclose these scandals to Verizon, it is hard to imagine the acquirer is happy.
Source:
NYP via VB