If we assume that the huge hacking disclosures Yahoo made over the last few months don’t derail the Verizon acquisition of the company, CEO of Yahoo Marissa Mayer, and Yahoo co-founder David Filo, along with four other directors will be leaving the board after the $4.8 billion deal closes. The changes were announced on January 9th in an SEC “8-K” filing:
[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][T]he Board has determined that, immediately following the Closing, the size of the Board will be reduced to five (5) directors. Tor Braham, Eric Brandt, Catherine Friedman, Thomas McInerney and Jeffrey Smith will continue to serve as directors of the Company following the Closing, and Mr. Brandt will serve as Chairman of the Board. Each of David Filo, Eddy Hartenstein, Richard Hill, Marissa Mayer, Jane Shaw and Maynard Webb has indicated that he or she intends to resign from the Board effective upon the Closing, and that his or her intention to resign is not due to any disagreement with the Company on any matter relating to the Company’s operations, policies or practices.
The plan is for Verizon to purchase Yahoo’s “core business.” The assets that remain – the company’s multi-billion dollar stake in Alibaba and Yahoo Japan – will reside in a company to be called “Altaba Inc.”
Mayer had been appointed the CEO of Yahoo back in 2012 and went out of her way to restore credibility and growth to Yahoo’s core display ad business. Mayer was able to rebuild their paid search business. She had a number of successes under her belt, but even then, unfortunately, was unable to satisfy institutional investor demand for renewed growth, and in the end, the
company was sold.
Mayer has said she wants to remain at Verizon after the deal concludes. If the deal does go through, Verizon is going to have a great hurdle to jump over when it comes to combining AOL and Yahoo. It’ll even face the same competitive market pressures, such as Facebook and Google, that prevented Yahoo from regaining its display advertising leadership.
Source – Greg Sterling[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]