Verizon Hopes To Expand Galactic Media Empire With Yahoo Purchase
Verizon, the "Can you hear me now?" company (to quote an older marketing slogan), has major aspirations of makings its go90 streaming video service a big time money maker. To help accelerate those plans, Verizon is looking into making a purchase offer for Yahoo, provided the price is right and everything checks out.
There's no offer in place at the moment, though Verizon is pretty serious about its interest in Yahoo. So serious, in fact, that it's tasked Tim Armstrong, CEO of its AOL subsidiary, in leading the charge on this one. Armstrong is one of Verizon's prized employees who's helped close big deals in the past, and it just so happens that he's known Yahoo boss Marissa Mayer for several years now—both served as executives at Google before taking on their current roles.
Verizon's interest in Yahoo is that it's an established web property with over 1 billion people using its various online services. Verizon meanwhile has more than 112 million wireless subscribers and AOL counts 2 million users among its ranks. Combining the three opens up some interesting possibilities for Verizon, not the least of which would be an ability to tap into the video advertising market in a major way, taking on the likes of YouTube and Facebook.
"At the right price I think marrying up some of [Yahoo's] assets with AOL under Tim Armstrong's leadership would be a good thing for investors," Verizon CEO Lowell C. McAdam told CNBC's Mad Money earlier this week, according to Bloomberg.
It could also make a lot of sense for Yahoo, which has gone through changes in management and struggled to really capitalize on the mobile market. Yahoo's also had a tough time dumping its stakes in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Yahoo Japan Corp. without incurring major tax hits, which has some calling for Yahoo to put itself on the market.
There's no offer in place at the moment, though Verizon is pretty serious about its interest in Yahoo. So serious, in fact, that it's tasked Tim Armstrong, CEO of its AOL subsidiary, in leading the charge on this one. Armstrong is one of Verizon's prized employees who's helped close big deals in the past, and it just so happens that he's known Yahoo boss Marissa Mayer for several years now—both served as executives at Google before taking on their current roles.
Verizon's interest in Yahoo is that it's an established web property with over 1 billion people using its various online services. Verizon meanwhile has more than 112 million wireless subscribers and AOL counts 2 million users among its ranks. Combining the three opens up some interesting possibilities for Verizon, not the least of which would be an ability to tap into the video advertising market in a major way, taking on the likes of YouTube and Facebook.
"At the right price I think marrying up some of [Yahoo's] assets with AOL under Tim Armstrong's leadership would be a good thing for investors," Verizon CEO Lowell C. McAdam told CNBC's Mad Money earlier this week, according to Bloomberg.
It could also make a lot of sense for Yahoo, which has gone through changes in management and struggled to really capitalize on the mobile market. Yahoo's also had a tough time dumping its stakes in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Yahoo Japan Corp. without incurring major tax hits, which has some calling for Yahoo to put itself on the market.
