"Yahoo+AOL --> Oath" But Yahoo Is Not Dead For The Second Time

Short Bytes: Verizon will be merging AOL and Yahoo businesses under a common Umbrella called Oath starting this summer after the buyout completes later this month. The latest change is reflected in a tweet made by AOL CEO Tim Armstrong. It’s also known that CEO Merissa Mayer won’t leading the Verizon-acquired Yahoo businesses.

Verizon and Yahoo deal, first announced in July last year, is expected to complete sometime around April 24. Various data breaches reported by Yahoo have compelled Verizon to rethink their decision, but they ultimately chose to buy the internet division of the struggling veteran.

AOL CEO Tim Amstrong announced on Twitter that Verizon would be merging more than 20 businesses belonging to Yahoo and AOL under a single umbrella called “Oath”.

Billion+ Consumers, 20+ Brands, Unstoppable Team. #TakeTheOath. Summer 2017. pic.twitter.com/tM3Ac1Wi36

— Tim Armstrong (@tim_armstrong) April 3, 2017

An earlier story published by Business Insider reported a similar name change. Oath will be Verizon’s media division.

As mentioned in various headlines, it was widely believed that the new Oath division would wipe out brand Yahoo from its existence. But according to a post by Daniel Roberts on Yahoo Finance, the change only puts Yahoo and AOL under Oath. He wrote it’s a typical house-of-brands strategy similar to Vox Media which owns Vox.com, Curbed, Racked, and SB Nation. Also, no one would expect Verizon to kick away such a known brands name so easily.

Just like us, Roberts is also unclear about the reasons why it’s named Oath. Probably, they would want to wash the stains of Yahoo’s degraded reputation.

Earlier this year, Yahoo announced in a SEC filing that leftover of Yahoo – after Verizon acquires its internet business – would be renamed to Altaba Inc. It was known that CEO Merissa Mayer would be quitting the company. However, according to a report by Recode, Mayer won’t be joining the Verizon bought Yahoo as well.

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