Yahoo Yard Sale: What is Verizon's Play?

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Verizon has acquired Yahoo. This acquisition cost Verizon $4.8 billion. This price includes Yahoo’s core business. Yahoo shareholders still have an estimated $31 billion in investments in Alibaba. In addition, there are also investments in Yahoo Japan and a small portfolio of patents remaining.

Yahoo Advances Verizon’s Strategy

As I stated on June, 9 2016, Verizon acquired AOL, Inc. last year and by adding Yahoo, Verizon could move further into the digital advertising business. For Verizon, buying Yahoo would be consistent with its new mobile and video strategy. This relies on offering free content and monetizing it through advertising.

Verizon considers Yahoo to be the one way ticket to valuable ad technology. Many think that Verizon is interested in utilizing Yahoo’s live-streaming video technology in order to increase the data usage of its nearly 103 million wireless customers.

Verizon’s Aspirations

The “Verizon play” is to merge Yahoo with AOL and create the number three platform for online advertising after Google and Facebook. With the Yahoo deal, Verizon will be able to offer more robust services to Verizon customers and advertisers. This is very interesting considering Yahoo considered buying both Google and Facebook in the past.

In the end, this will bring a huge amount of content: news, sports, and finance to Yahoo’s one billion monthly visitors.

Watch This Space

It has been interesting watching this deal unfold and writing about the “Yahoo Yard Sale” over the last several months. As I have stated, “a deal is anticipated to take place this summer. Watching how the businesses unfold will be amazing. I anticipate the outcome of these events to have major impacts on eCommerce in the United States and crossborder. It will also create major transformations in supply chain logistics.”

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Jim Tompkins

Chairman & Founder at Tompkins Ventures

Jim Tompkins is an international authority on leadership, logistics, material handling, outsourcing, and supply chain best practices. He is Chairman and Founder of Tompkins Ventures. Previously, he built Tompkins International from a backyard startup into an international consulting and implementation firm. He has written or contributed to 31 books, including his latest, Insightful Leadership. Jim has been quoted in hundreds of business and industry magazines, including The Journal of Commerce and Fortune, and has spoken at more than 4,000 international engagements.