How do we know this? Because we bugged their phone lines and made an intern set up camp in the ceiling rafters. Just kidding… a filing with the SEC released yesterday pretty much laid out the whole transaction.So, here’s the deal…
Verizon is essentially splitting Yahoo into 2 companies.
It will buy the Yahoo we all know and don’t really love (aka. its search engine, blogs, and homepage) and the remaining portion, which is basically a pile of stock (15% stake in Alibaba, 35.5% stake in Yahoo Japan) will be turned into a holding company.
And, apparently they’re naming this company Altaba… because why wouldn’t you want to sound like a bizarre celebrity religion, right?!
As for the fate of CEO Marissa Mayer… 5 of Yahoo’s board members will remain at Altaba, but the rest of them, including Mayer, will step down.
However, that doesn’t mean she’s out of the picture. In fact, there’s a good chance she’ll head to Verizon to help with the transition (and maybe stay long-term).
So yeah, don’t get fooled by the clickbaity “Yahoo’s changing its name to Altaba!” and “5 Reasons Why Marissa Mayer Got Fired” crap you might see today. That’s not what’s happening.
