Washington
- Yahoo was already a shell of its former self. Now part of the company is
getting an obscure new name: Altaba.
When
Verizon agreed to buy the company for $4.8 billion in July 2016, it planned to
purchase just Yahoo's core Internet businesses, which include its email
service, sports verticals and various apps. What's left of the embattled
technology company would essentially be its ownership in the very valuable
Chinese Internet giant Alibaba.
When the
deal closes, the remaining part will change its name to Altaba, the company
announced in security filings on Monday. The sale is expected to be completed
by late March.
The new
name is meant to be a combination of the words "alternative and
Alibaba," according to a person familiar with the company's thinking, who
didn't want to be named because the individual was not authorized to speak on
the record about the name change.
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Today Yahoo
owns roughly 15 percent of Alibaba, holdings that are worth about $35 billion.
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 new
company, which will be publicly traded and until now has been referred to as
RemainCo in security filings, also owns a 35.5 percent stake in Yahoo Japan,
the company's Japanese affiliate, and Yahoo's cash, and a patent portfolio that
is being sold off in a separate auction.
A Yahoo
spokeswoman, Suzanne Philion, would not comment on the name. She emailed the
following statement: "We are confident in Yahoo's value and we continue to
work towards integration with Verizon."
WASHINGTON POST