Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is set to leave the company after Verizon’s acquisition is completed. Verizon has purchases the core services formerly run by Yahoo, including email, blogs, apps and sports, in a deal that is expected to close in March this year.
Mayer has announced she’ll be leaving the Yahoo board, joined by other departing board members like Eric Brandt. However, it is not yet confirmed if she will leave the Verizon organisation. If Mayer decides to leave Verizon, the former Yahoo CEO (whose management style is contentious) is set to earn a cool US$55 million.
After the acquisition was announced in July, Mayer wrote a company memo on the newly acquired micro-blogging site Tumblr.
“For me personally, I’m planning to stay. I love Yahoo, and I believe in all of you. It’s important to me to see Yahoo into its next chapter,” she wrote.
A new moniker has been announced for the leftover portion of the tech company. The new name is a combination of words ‘alternative and Alibaba’ used to make ‘Altaba’. The title derives from the Yahoo acquisition of US$35 billion in holdings for Alibaba and a 15% ownership of the Chinese market, so Altaba’s stock can be tracked as an alternative to Alibaba.
The decision to sell Yahoo to Verizon comes 8 years after Yahoo refused a US$44 million offer from Microsoft. Verizon paid a hefty US$4.8 billion in comparison. It’s unclear whether Verizon will keep the brand name Yahoo for the elements of the company purchased, but it seems sad to say that this could finally be the end of Yahoo’s 23 year rein.
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