Yahoo! was seen as one the pioneers on the internet. The tech giant has grown from nothing to become a titan on the web, to then fall on its knees. But after Verizon had an eye on it, things are changing.
On January 9th, 2017, the company said that it is whittling down most of its board after completing its deal with Verizon. The size of the board will be reduced to Dive directors, and many key executives will leave. Those people include CEO Marissa Mayer and co-founder David Filo.
Other executives like Maynard Webb Jr., Director since February 2012 and Chairman in August 2013, Jane Shaw, a former pharmaceutical industry executive who joined in 2014, media executive Eddy Hartenstein and Richard Hill are also leaving.
This was inline with what activist investors have been thinking: replacing all Directors, but saying that the Board wasn’t making changes quickly enough.
And to sum things up, if the sale of its core business to Verizon went through, the company said that it would change its name to Altaba, Inc.. In its regulatory filing, Yahoo! said that Altaba's assets will include Yahoo!'s stake in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Yahoo! Japan.
According to a person familiar with the matter, the "Altaba" name comes from the combination of the words "alternate" and "Alibaba."
The filing also said that Eric Brandt, former Chief Financial Officer of Broadcom Corp who joined Yahoo!'s Board early in 2016, is appointed to become the Chairman of Altaba. Four other Directors who are currently on Yahoo!’s board, are joining him.
The moves are meant to happen after the closing of the roughly $4.8 billion sale of Yahoo! to Verizon. The deal however, has been endangered by two huge hacks Yahoo! recently experienced. In the filing, Yahoo! said that Verizon could terminate its purchase, or renegotiate due to those hacks.
This was seen when Verizon has become less certain that the deal will happen after the second breach of one billion accounts was revealed. According to the company's executives, the breaches could be a thing that would allow Verizon to change the terms of the deal.
But still, while Yahoo!'s core business is declining, it's overall value is tied on its stakes in Alibaba and Yahoo! Japan. Not the core business that Verizon is acquiring. According to analysts, about 61 percent of Yahoo! is tied to its stake in Alibaba and 13 percent is linked to Yahoo! Japan.
Verizon's acquisition also didn't include certain other assets, which are mostly shares of Asia-based companies and non-core patents. These are the parts of Yahoo! that will become Altaba.
Related: The Cursed Diamond Yahoo! Owns