Verizon to Sell Media Business, Including Yahoo, AOL to Apollo for $5 Billion

Verizon has struggled to grow its media business, declaring them nearly worthless with a $4.6 billion write-down in 2018. Bigger players such as Facebook and Google have sweeped the digital advertising market.

Verizon will get $4.25 billion in cash, preferred interests of $750 million and retain a 10% stake in Verizon Media, as part of the deal terms.

The business will be called Yahoo when the deal closes, which is expected in the second half of 2021, the company said.

Verizon Media’s portfolio includes online brands such as TechCrunch, Makers, Ryot and Flurry, according to its website. It reported revenue of $1.9 billion in the first quarter of 2021.

In 2017, Verizon bought Yahoo’s internet properties for about $4.48 billion, betting its 1 billion-plus users would be a fertile audience for online ads. It acquired email service AOL for $4.4 billion in 2015.

(Reporting by Eva Mathews in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernard Orr and Shounak Dasgupta)