In its heyday, the Internet search pioneer was valued at over $100 billion, but it has seen a sharp decline in its market capitalisation over the years.
While the acquisition deal was announced in July last year, the process has been delayed as the companies had to deal with the aftermath of two data breaches suffered by Yahoo! last year.
Verizon Communications is the leading wireless operator in the USA and plans to merge Yahoo! with AOL to form a new business called Oath.
Oath will house over 50 media brands, including HuffPost, TechCrunch and Tumblr, and will be headed up by AOL CEO Tim Armstrong.
Former Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer has chosen to walk away from the business and will receive a hefty $23 million golden handshake.
“Given the inherent changes to Marissa Mayer’s role with Yahoo! resulting from the closing of the transaction, Mayer has chosen to resign. Verizon wishes Mayer well in her future endeavours,” Verizon said in a statement.
The downside to the deal is that around 2 000 Yahoo! and AOL jobs will be cut, with retrenchments set to begin as early as Wednesday.
“We’re building the future of brands using powerful technology, trusted content and differentiated data. We have dominating consumer brands in news, sports, finance, tech, and entertainment and lifestyle, coupled with our market-leading advertising technology platforms,” Armstrong said in a statement.
“Now that the deal is closed, we are excited to set our focus on being the best company for consumer media, and the best partner to our advertising, content and publisher partners.”
Yahoo! has offloaded its email service and websites devoted to news, finance and sport, as well as its advertising tools.
The remaining part of the business not acquired by Verizon is set to be renamed Altaba Inc, which will serve as a holding company for its 15,5% stake in Alibaba and its 35,5% shareholding in Yahoo! Japan, Reuters reports.
