We have been hearing for some time that Verizon could be interested in acquiring Yahoo’s internet business, and that last month there were reports that Verizon would be bidding as much as $3 billion for it. Now according to a report from Bloomberg, the deal is said to be close to being finalized.The report also revealed that there is a good chance that Verizon could end up paying more than what we previously reported. Apparently the carrier could end up paying as much as $5 billion for the company. Note that this deal is only for Yahoo’s real estate assets and internet business. It does not include Yahoo’s patents, which apparently will be sold separately.
There is no mention of who will be acquiring those patents, but a source of Bloomberg stated that the patent deal alone is worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Speaking of the potential of the acquisition, Roger Entner, an analyst with Recon Analytics LLC said, “This will expand Verizon’s advertising base by 200 million more visitors. This will be a large driver of the advertising engine. They also can collect a whole lot more user data to make the ads more relevant. They will be in more places with better ads.”
The deal is expected to be officially announced in the coming days, so check back with us soon for the official details.