Category: Business, Economics and Finance / Company News / Internet Technology / Internet Culture / Science and Technology / Takeovers

Yahoo Australia says business as usual for now

Tuesday, 26 Jul 2016 14:24:07 | Justine Parker

The owner of Yahoo's Australian operations says it is business as usual for now, after one of the biggest US telecommunications companies acquired the internet pioneer's core US assets.

Seven West Media, which has run Yahoo7 as a 50-50 joint venture with Yahoo for a decade, expects to hold talks with Verizon on its plans for Yahoo in Australia over the next six to nine months.

The Verizon-Yahoo deal is expected to be complete early next year.

Seven West Media said it has several options under its joint venture agreement and will seek an outcome "that creates the most value for Seven West Media shareholders".

"Seven West Media has a number of positive options that will define its future development and success in digital media, building on its already highly successful development over the past few years," the company said in a statement to the ASX.

A spokesman for Seven would not elaborate further on those options, but the ASX statement highlighted the "dramatic" expansion of the company's own digital products and investments outside the joint venture.

Verizon is paying around $6.5 billion ($US4.8 billion) for most of Yahoo, except for its successful stakes in Yahoo Japan and the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, and some patents.

Verizon plans to merge Yahoo's search, email, messenger and advertising technology businesses with another early internet firm, AOL, which it acquired last year.

AOL was Seven's joint venture partner in a previous, but short-lived, online incarnation, AOL7, between 2001 and 2004.

'I love Yahoo, and I believe in all of you': Marissa Mayer

Yahoo was an early internet pioneer when it was founded by Jerry Yang and David Filo as an online directory and web portal 22 years ago, but it has struggled to keep up with younger and more nimble rivals such as Google and Facebook, and the advent of social media.

The future of current chief executive Marissa Mayer is unclear, but in a statement on her Tumblr, Ms Mayer said she was planning to stay with the company, which she has led for four years.

"I love Yahoo, and I believe in all of you," she said.

"It's important to me to see Yahoo into its next chapter."

Ms Mayer was brought in from Google in July 2012 to turn Yahoo around after several years of turmoil in which it burned through five chief executives in as many years.

Yahoo had been the subject of takeover speculation since as far back as 2008, when Microsoft made an unsolicited bid to buy the firm for around $US44.6 billion ($60 billion), which was rejected at the time for undervaluing the company.



 

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