Apollo Global Management and other investors have acquired Verizon Media for $5bn from its teleco parent which will retain a 10% shareholding. The divested media company will become known as Yahoo.
The company will expand into betting and commerce utilising existing adtech, affiliate marketing and targeting assets.
Verizon had paid a total of $9bn for its media business, buying AOL in 2015 followed by Yahoo in 2017. But telcos have found vertical integration with media businesses far harder than expected and there has been long standing speculation regarding the future of the Verizon media brands which include Yahoo Sports, Yahoo Finance and Yahoo News along with TechCrunch and Endgadget.
Yahoo has a monthly user base of 900m but the inevitable challenge is the competition for advertising with Facebook and Google. One to watch.
