This news is definitely a sigh of relief around Yahoo's offices when it was just confirmed that Verizon is still planning to go through with its purchase of the tech company. The deal was looking a little shaky after it had emerged in multiple reports that Yahoo! had not one but two data breaches in recent years.
Yahoo's Security Issues Throughout The Years
According to Irish Times, it was reported late last year that hackers gained access to information on a majority of Yahoo users in 2013, which included email addresses, dates of birth and scrambled account passwords. It was a pretty much bad timing for the company, which had come so close to the news of 2014 attack that hit at least 500 million customer accounts, and both breaches were even announced after the Verizon deal was struck.
Yahoo's Deal With Verizon
Understandably, there were some misgivings on the purchase. Things have been put on hold while the ramifications of the breaches were being explored, though behind-the-scenes work was still continuing. The deal, which was announced in July, had originally been expected to come to a close in the first quarter of 2017.
Verizon then went on to announce this week that it would proceed with the agreed takeover, with some modifications in mind: the asking price has being reduced by $350 million, bringing the value of the deal to $4.48 billion, and Verizon and Altaba will both bear the legal responsibility for the breaches in the future.
The Asking Price
According to Market Realist, it seems Yahoo may have gotten off lightly. Not only did Verizon continue with the projected acquisition, but it also demanded a lesser and steeper discount than what was originally feared. Investors had already feared anything up to $1 billion off from the asking price.
It all shows that any business that fails to protect any data from its users or customers will end up paying the consequences. This should serve as a warning to other tech companies about the importance of security and user protection.
