Verizon Goes for the Core in Yahoo Purchase - transforming itself in the process

Verizon Communications has purchased Yahoo's operating business for 4.83 billion in cash.Yahoo Japan and Yahoo's stake in Alibaba Group Holding are excluded from the deal.Verizon had agreed to raise its bid last week.Believed to be strongly behind the move was Verizon AOL CEO and Chairman Tim Armstrong,who has long sought Yahoo for its digital advertising business-even before the Verizon offer came along.Verizon had made a major transformative move when it purchased AOL last year for 4.4 billion.*
By purchasing the assets,Verizon gains access to Yahoo's advertising technology tools,BrightRoll and Flurry,as well as its email,search and messenger platforms;and content such as Yahoo News and Yahoo Sports.Verizon is looking to enhance its mobile video and advertising portfolios so as to make up for the slowing wireless business now at a saturation point.They also want Yahoo's scale,which will then drive the company's audience from millions to billions.*
The remainder Yahoo will become a publicly traded holding company with a different name.It will keep its Alibaba Group Holding Ltd 15% stake and 35% of Yahoo Japan,plus its convertible notes and some minority investments.The new Yahoo will be permanently structured to hold these legacy assets.Yahoo had been pressured by activist investor Starboard Value LP to jettison the core business.*
On Verizon's side,its head of product innovation and new business,Marni Walden,will become CEO of the combined firm.*
Verizon Communications Inc (VZ),Yahoo Inc (YHOO)

Worth It or Not:Inside the Verizon-AOL Deal

Telecom titan Verizon Communications is buying media platform company AOL for 4.4 billion dollars in an all-cash deal expected to close this summer,pending regulatory approval.
AOL has once again become a digital trailblazer,and we are excited at the prospect of charting a new course together in the digitally connected world,said Verizon Chairman and CEO Lowell McAdams.AOL's advertising mode aligns with this approach and the advertisng platform provide a key tool for us o develop future revenue streams.*
AOL CEO Tim Armstrong and other leadership will stay on the job when AOL becomes a Verizon subsidiary.Mr.Armstrong described the combined company as deeply growth oriented and aimed directly at the platform shift that video and mobile are offering the world-today and 20 years from now.*
Verizon will get:
1.AOL's 2.2 million subscriber dial-up Internet business;
2.publications The Huffington Post;Engadget;and TechCrunch;
3.One,the automated cross-media ad-buying platform;
4.the video ad platform Adap.tv;and
5.the HuffPost Live streaming video network.
Verizon is acquiring AOL with the strategy of building the biggest media platform in the world,Armstrong said.Verizon will propel AOL and comes to the table with over 100 million mobile consumers,content deals with the likes of the NFL,and a meaningful strategy in mobile video.AOL will oversee AOL,s current assets plus additional assets from Verizon that are targeted at the mobile and video media space.The deal will give our content businesses more distribution and it will give our advertisers more distribution and mobile-first features.The deal will add scale and it will add a mobile lens to everything we do inside our content,ads and video strategy.*
AOL has over 30,000 business partners;while Verizon,born of the 2002 merger of telecom heavyweights Bell Atlantic and GTE,is the largest US wireless communications service provider.The name "Verizon" is derived from "veritas," the Latin word for "truth," and "horizon." Verizon had 125.3 million wireless service customers as of September 2014,along with residential and small business services customers that are provided with phone service,Internet access and TV via copper wire or fiber optic cable.It is in the process of transitioning wireline customers to its more economical FiOS fiber optic cable.*
Verizon stock has a 4.43% dividend yield.*
Verizon Communications Inc (VZ),AOL Inc (AOL)

Asia This Day:Can SoftBank Save Sprint

As early as today,Monday,Japan's SoftBank,a telecom titan,is expected to announce a deal to purchase American counterpart Sprint Nextel.SoftBank will reportedly offer about 20 billion dollars for a 70% stake in Sprint.
Some analysts are sceptical SoftBank can reverse Sprint's decline.It has lost 7.5 million customers over the past five years.
The deal is unlikely to face official opposition.Indeed,regulators will probably welcome increased competition in a space currently dominated by AT and T and Verizon.
Moody's has downgraded Sony's credit rating to Baa.The rating agency has also reduced the Japanese electronics and entertainment firm's outlook to negative.
China's inflation is well in hand.According to this morning's report,consumer prices rose 1.9%,in line with estimates and below the government target rate of about 4%.Wholesale prices dropped for the eight straight month,down 3.36%.
Australian home loan approvals were up in August more than forecast,rising 1.68%.They had fallen in July.
Asian shares fell slightly in early Monday trading.The MSCI Asia-Pacific index was down 1.27% on concern about the Euro debt crisis.
Sprint Nextel(S),SoftBank(SFTBF)

MCI Hikes Fee

In a risky move,long distance provider MCI is more than doubling the monthly fee it charges for paper billing.The fee is being hiked from .99 U.S. to 1.99.Few other utilities,if any,charge such a fee.Complaints may be filed with the Federal Communications Commission,which has jurisdiction over MCI.MCI is a division of Verizon Communications(VZ).

Alcatel-Lucent Gets Big Deal

Alcatel-Lucent(ALU),the Franco-American telecom giant,has landed a huge contract with Verizon Communications.It is a three year,six billion dollar network expansion and improvement deal.ALU offers an encyclopedic array of products and services worldwide,but its stock has been pummeled because of a low earnings forecast on account of merger costs.Late last year,the Paris-based Alcatel completed its merger with Lucent Technologies,the former Western Electric component of the old Bell System.Alcatel-Lucent is headed by American CEO Patricia Russo.