Verizon shareholders are meeting today to approve Yahoo purchase; deal should close next week
Verizon is reportedly planning to cut up to 2,100 jobs as it combines AOL and Yahoo. These would be jobs at AOL and/or Yahoo, not the parent company. The news was first reported by Re/Code, and TechCrunch followed up with a story saying the number of job cuts could be higher than originally reported. The job cuts are expected to be concentrated in areas in which there is redundancy between the two workforces.
Verizon Communications plans to merge its AOL and Yahoo divisions into a new media company called Oath. Tim Armstrong, the former AOL CEO who tried unsuccessfully to merge AOL and Yahoo when they were both independent, will now be CEO of Oath.
Late last year, AOL announced 500 job cuts and said they were unrelated to the impending Yahoo merger. At the time, Armstrong reportedly said the company was cutting corporate jobs and wanted to focus more on its mobile, video and data groups.
Together, AOL and Yahoo own a number of prominent brands, including The Huffington Post, TechCrunch, Engadget, Tumblr, Flickr and MovieFone. In addition, Verizon has purchased a 24.5% stake in AwesomenessTV, which is controlled by DreamWorks, and has invested in its Go90 mobile video service that streams original content, including the popular teen drama “Guidance.” So far, Go90 has fallen short of Verizon’s expectations, but the company apparently remains completely committed to the mobile app.
Verizon recently completed a corporate restructuring, which took effect April 3. The company has segmented its businesses into Media and Telematics; Customer and Product Operations; and Network and Technology operations. Oath will be part of the Media and Telematics group, which is headed by Verizon EVP Marni Walden.
