Verizon sells Yahoo and AOL for US$5 billion

Today, Verizon announced it will sell its media group to Apollo Global Management, a private equity group, for US$5 billion. This sale includes properties that once belonged to AOL and Yahoo, which Verizon bought in 2015 and 2017, respectively.

The $5 billion sale marks a significant loss for Verizon, which bought AOL and Yahoo (as well as their associated properties) for $4.4 billion and $4.5 billion, respectively. 

The sale is expected to close in the latter half of 2021. Verizon will receive $4.25 billion in cash and a 10% stake in the properties sold.

The properties, which were conglomerated as Oath in 2017 and rebranded as Verizon Media Group in 2018, include popular websites like TechCrunch and Engadget. They will continue to operate at Apollo Global Management under the Yahoo brand.

Apollo Global Management also owns Michaels (a prolific crafts retailer) and the Venetian resort in Las Vegas. Time will tell if Apollo can take the ailing properties of the once-Internet giants and spin them back into gold. At their peaks, AOL and Yahoo boasted market capitalizations of $200 billion and $125 billion, respectively. 

What do you think about Verizon’s sale of AOL and Yahoo? Let us know in the comments.