Verizon Oath: Yahoo + AOL
Giant telecommunication company Verizon has confirmed that it plans to group all of the combined AOL and Yahoo brands together under a new name: Oath. Yeah Verizon Oath. The internet had a lot of fun with that one yesterday. But the company is also trying to clarify a few things today, according to an email I received from a spokesperson. For one, there will be no Oath Mail. Yahoo Sports isn’t becoming Oath Sports. The Yahoo and AOL names aren’t actually going anywhere., you see. At least not in the near term.
Verizon news release said “[The] AOL and Yahoo brands will not only remain, but a core tenet of Oath will be to deeply invest in growing those brands. Oath is the umbrella and the portfolio of brands will comprise Oath — a house of brands structure”.
Previosly, Verizon’s planned purchase of Yahoo got real complicated. Part of the value lost is in the Yahoo brand, which Verizon apparently considers toxic at this point. To that end, Verizon is changing the name of the combined Yahoo and AOL company. Business Insider first reported that “Oath” will be the new name of the company. AOL CEO Tim Armstrong confirmed the change in his tweet.
“Billion+ Consumers, 20+ Brands, Unstoppable Team. #TakeTheOath. Summer 2017”
Right now, the transaction is scheduled to close in the current quarter, which means we could hear something official about the future of the Yahoo and AOL brand names before too long. That’s a bit later than originally anticipated; the delays came from Yahoo’s huge security breach and the subsequent restructuring of the deal that saw Verizon save $350 million on its purchase.
Verizon Oath Update
Yahoo Finance reporter Daniel Roberts as reported by Engadget published a story in which he says that the Yahoo brand is not in fact going away. Instead, it’ll be a company under the Oath “umbrella” of brands. It means also include AOL properties like TechCrunch, The Huffington Post and Engadget.
Current Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer reported will not continue with this new company “Oath”. It will be headed by CEO AOL Tim Armstrong, who is now apparently Oath-in-Chief.
