Yahoo has disclosed that after the completion of its acquisition by Verizon, it will change its name to “Altaba” and Marissa Mayer will step down from the board as the CEO.
These changes are contained in a report from the US securities and exchange commission:
In connection with the previously announced pending sale by Yahoo! Inc. (“Yahoo” or the “Company”) of its operating business (the “Sale Transaction”) to Verizon Communications Inc. (“Verizon”) pursuant to the terms of a Stock Purchase Agreement, dated as of July 23, 2016, between the Company and Verizon, the Board of Directors of the Company (the “Board”) has made certain determinations with respect to the size and composition of the Board following the closing of the Sale Transaction (the “Closing”).
In light of the fact that following the Closing the Company will operate as an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, the 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.
To facilitate the transition of the Company to an investment company following the Closing, the Board also determined that, effective January 9, 2017, Mr. Brandt will become Chairman of the Board and Mr. Webb will become Chairman Emeritus of the Board.
And
The Board also determined that, following the Closing, it intends to cause the Company’s name to be changed to Altaba Inc.
In July 2016, Verizon agreed to buy Yahoo for $4.8 billion. It planned to purchase just the technology company’s core Internet businesses, which include its email service, sports verticals and various apps. What’s left of the embattled technology company would essentially be its ownership in the very valuable Chinese Internet giant Alibaba.
Washington Post reports that the new name is meant to be a combination of the words “alternative and Alibaba,” according to a person familiar with the company’s thinking, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the individual was not authorized to speak on the record about the name change.
It is not entirely clear when Verizon will acquire the technology company. However some have opined that Verizon may back out of the deal after the two recent high profile breaches. Last September, it was reported that over 500 million Yahoo accounts were affected while in December, 1 billion accounts were compromised.
