Verizon Nears Deal To Sell Media Assets To Apollo : Reports

(RTTNews) - Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) is nearing a deal to sell its digital media assets, which includes Yahoo and AOL, to the private equity firm Apollo Global Management, as part of the telecom giant's plan to exit from its investments in digital media, according to the reports citing people familiar with the matter.

The reports said the deal could be worth $4 billion and $5 billion. But the reports cautioned that the talks could still fall apart.

Verizon had purchased AOL in 2015 and Yahoo in 2017 for a sum of more than $9 billion as it wanted to make its mark in the ever-growing market of online media. Also, the fact that many people had their accounts in these two websites also attracted the Verizon investment.

In 2020, Verizon's digital media segment, including Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Mail and news sites like TechCrunch, Engadget, brought in revenues of $7 billion, down 5.6 percent from last year. This was mainly due to a sharp fall in advertising revenues in the first half of the year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.