'Business as usual' at Yahoo! after Verizon acquisition

Yahoo! spokeswoman Suzanne Philion said it’s business as usual at Yahoo and data center in Quincy will continue to operate independently until further notice. Verizon acquired Yahoo! and plans to finalize the deal are expected in the first quarter of 2017.

by Rodney Harwood & Staff Writer
| August 4, 2016 1:45 PM

QUINCY — For the time being, it’s business as usual at the Yahoo! data center in Quincy in the wake of Verizon’s acquisition of Yahoo.

Verizon has agreed to pay $4.83 billion for Yahoo. The sale completes Yahoo’s evolution from influential search pioneer and web portal juggernaut to a company floundering in the wake of its own poor decisions.

“Verizon has agreed to acquire the entire global operating business of Yahoo! Until the closing, Yahoo! will continue to operate our business independently,” Yahoo spokeswoman Suzanne Philion said. “We did not announce changes to our operating business as part of this news — it’s business as usual at Yahoo and our team in Quincy remains focused on executing against the strategic plan we outlined at the beginning of this year.”

Less than 10 months ago, the Quincy data center doubled the size of its operation by adding another 300,000 square feet. The web firm has been in Quincy since 2007, and brought its distinctive “chicken coop” style of data center there in an expansion announced in 2010. The new expansion added more of the same.

The sale of Yahoo’s business ends the company’s 22-year run as an independent entity. Founded in a trailer in 1994 by two Stanford graduate students, it was the front door to the web for a generation of internet users, but failed to keep up with Google in search technology and then missed the social media and mobile revolution. Forbes calls the sale the saddest $5 billion deal in tech history

Verizon, long viewed as the frontrunner, is walking away with Yahoo’s more than 1 billion monthly active users. The Verizon deal must be approved by regulators and is expected to be finalized in the first quarter of 2017.

The sale will unite Yahoo! with AOL, the first web portal Verizon bought last year for $4.4 billion. The United States’ largest wireless provider is betting nearly $10 billion that combining the two formerly dominant websites will give it an edge in mobile content and advertising technology it can leverage across its more than 140 million subscribers.

Yahoo! has opened the door to the web for an early generation of internet users, and its services still attract a billion visitors a month.