Verizon is looking to sell Yahoo and AOL assets, as it pivots away from the digital media business it spent billions to enter.
Verizon bought Yahoo and AOL for a combined $9 billion, in an effort to diversify beyond its core business. The company saw its phone subscribers as a way to drive growth to digital media properties, and ultimately challenge the likes of Facebook and Google for digital media and advertising.
The company’s plans have been far from successful, and it is now looking to sell off its digital media assets, including both Yahoo and AOL, according to The Wall Street Journal. The decision follows a $4.5 billion write down of its digital media business in 2018, the sale of Tumblr in 2019 and the sale of HuffPost to BuzzFeed in November of last year.
Verizon has already involved Apollo Global Management, Inc. in the deal, one that some believe could be worth as much as $5 billion. Given the challenges Verizon faces moving forward with its 5G rollout, and the vast sum of money it recently spent to acquire more spectrum, $5 billion could be far more helpful in its core business.