Yahoo to Altaba: What you need to know about the $4.8 billion Verizon takeover

Yahoo was acquired by US wireless communications service provider Verizon - for a mere $4.8 billion (Dh17.63 billion) in July last year - and with the acquisition come some major changes. What are the major changes? Is this the end of Yahoo? Will Marissa Mayer remain CEO?

Here are top things to know about 'Altaba' and Yahoo's future:

- The company will soon be called 'Altaba' - a combination of the words "alternate" and "Alibaba," according to sources. - The amount paid is a fraction of what the tech giant was once valued - $125 billion at it's peak in January 2000. - Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer will step down from the board of directors, but is expected to remain with Yahoo's core business - The idea behind the name is that Altaba's stock can now be tracked as an alternative to Alibaba because Yahoo owns a sizeable chunk of the Chinese company: The Washington Post - Six Yahoo directors will be leaving after the Verizon sale, including Mayer, Yahoo co-founder David Filo, Eddy Hartenstein, Richard Hill and Jane Shaw according to the filing: The Wall Street Journal - However, current board member Eric Brandt will serve as chairman of the board, effective 9 January, while the other five remaining directors will govern Altaba following the takeover.

Bolstering digital assets:

- Experts believe that the viable option for Verizon is to marry online Yahoo assets with AOL, which it acquired for $4.4 billion. - Why is the above 'convergence' significant? It is noteworthy that AOL has properties like The Huffington Post and technology websites Techcrunch and Engadget - and now Yahoo Finance - which together can become a strong digital advertising platform for Verizon.

Social Media

- Photo-sharing website Flickr and the slowly growing microblogging and social networking website Tumblr are two Yahoo assets that show some promise for growth. With he consolidation, the deal may prove to be a sweet one for Verizon, according to experts.

Digital advertising

- Verizon will be able to leverage upon Yahoo's so-called MAVENs businesses (Mobile, Video, Native and Social), to bolster it's digital advertising. Verizon makes most of its money from mobile phone connections while Yahoo generated more than twice as much revenue from search and display ads on desktop computers. Basically, Yahoo will still be Yahoo, the remaining units of Yahoo will operate as an investment company that will be renamed Altaba.     [vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id="cs-1"]