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WSJ: Yahoo to Change Name to Altaba; Marissa Mayer to Leave Yahoo Board

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S

Sky Interloper

Member
Without the name I don't understand why would Verizon rebrand rather than integrate Yahoo into the Aol umbrella. At least that name would be recognizable enough, but I suppose two hacking scandals in a row made the brand quite toxic in their eyes.

I can't help but wonder what is going to happen to both Flickr and Tumblr. Even if the business model of the former has been assaulted by the different cloud services, it can still be workable, but I don't see a successful monetization with the demographics that compose Tumblr.

Edit: From what I have read, it's not clear to me if the rebrand will happen to the remnants of Yahoo that would keep their shares of Alibaba and Yahoo Japan or the bussiness that was bought by Verizon. If the former is true, it would make more sense.
 
C

chaosaeon

Member
Just for kicks I dare someone to try out what they did to the old Yahoo messenger. Just this year, they "updated" it and you can't even see if a contact is online or not. The options menu consists of a "start when windows starts yes/no and that's about it. Any contacts you had before the update have to change to the new version as the old one has no servers, so anyone who doesn't upgrade to the barebones new thing will just be gone period. It's actually worse than texting in every conceivable way.

Also have you heard Mayer's Laugh ? I imagine her laughing like this and just pressing buttons over there. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcSujceZDmg
 
E

Etzer

Member
lol Is no one reading the article (or checking somewhere else since WSJ is behind a paywall) or am I misunderstanding? Altaba is basically everything that wasn't included in the sale (shares in Alibaba and Yahoo Japan), while Verizon has the "core business", along with the Yahoo! name, Yahoo! Mail, Flickr and Tumblr. It's not like Yahoo Mail is gonna turn into Altaba Mail.

Stumpokapow said:
So it's not clear to me if Flickr, Tumblr, Yahoo View (Hulu's previous free-with-commercials library), etc. are going to Verizon or Yahoo.
Click to expand...

Those are included in the sale:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/verizon-buys-yahoo-5-billion-000000239.html

In addition to getting the fifth-most visited web site in the US, Verizon gets assets like Tumblr, Flickr, Polyvore and digital ad tools Flurry and BrightRoll.
Click to expand...
 
J

jelly

Member
Never ending. How do rich people keep their jobs running a company into the ground then the new people set off on the same trajectory.

Is Yahoo tainted beyond all rescue a name change is needed?
 
D

Delusibeta

Banned
Considering we're talking about what is effectively a holding company for what was Yahoo's stake in Alibaba and Yahoo Japan, this name change makes sense.

What doesn't make sense is Verizon paying any money for Yahoo minus aforementioned Alibaba and Yahoo Japan stakes, since that's literally the only part of the company that holds any value.
 
S

Slayven

Member
Stupid name, they have one of the best brand names in the business. Why fuck it up with something that will make people say "fuck it i will bing it"
 
S

Sobriquet

Member
Stumpokapow said:
So it's not clear to me if Flickr, Tumblr, Yahoo View (Hulu's previous free-with-commercials library), etc. are going to Verizon or Yahoo.
Click to expand...

All of the web services stuff is going to Verizon. Altaba will basically be an investment company with stakes in Alibaba, Yahoo Japan, etc.
 
S

Sky Interloper

Member
I think the OP should make clear that this rename doesn't apply to Verizon's purchase, it actually falls into the remnants of the original Yahoo, which will become a holding company composed by investments and non-critical patents to the former business. As per ArsTechnica:

That July sale included Yahoo's operating business, but it didn't include the big chunk of Chinese e-commerce site Alibaba owned by Yahoo, and it didn't include certain other assets, mostly shares of Asia-based companies and non-core patents. What remains, according to SEC paperwork filed today, will be rolled into an "investment company" called Altaba.
Click to expand...
 
C

Choppasmith

Member
Probably the only GAF member here who's happily kept his Yahoo mail account since 2000 and I even I did that to be a terrible name.
 
J

jroc74

Phone reception is more important to me than human rights
R

riotous

Banned
So sounds like Yahoo as we know it (a web site. a news source, etc.) isn't changing its name.

Yahoo and Yahoo news, etc are now owned by Verizon.

Altaba is the new name for the company that just sold off most of its assets.

Is that right? Altaba now has nothing to do with Yahoo.com hence the name change?

Yahoo.com isn't changing it's name, either are other branded assets.
 
J

jroc74

Phone reception is more important to me than human rights
Yahoo is my home page, has been for years. Even when they changed formats and finding local news is alot harder to find. No more scrolling articles on the main page...

But this might make me change. This name sucks sooo hard.

Might make the jump to MSN or Google for my home page.

Ok, maybe I should just read the source...lol. Post above has my mind at ease a lil.

If I could read the source...
 
N

numble

Member
If you want to invest in Alibaba, you can invest directly in Alibaba stocks, or alternatively indirectly via Altaba stocks.
 
S

Sobriquet

Member
riotous said:
So sounds like Yahoo as we know it (a web site. a news source, etc.) isn't changing its name.

Yahoo and Yahoo news, etc are now owned by Verizon.

Altaba is the new name for the company that just sold off most of its assets.

Is that right? Altaba now has nothing to do with Yahoo.com hence the name change?

Yahoo.com isn't changing it's name, either are other branded assets.
Click to expand...

Correct, mostly. Altaba is Yahoo's investment arm, spun off as it's own company. They have billions in assets. We will most likely never hear anything about Altaba unless you watch stock tickers. Also: Marissa Mayer is still the CEO for now.
 
R

Randy Monk

Member
hqdefault.jpg
Click to expand...

I call dibs on Shiftctrlzee
 
A

Apathy

Member
Man, Mayer was just the worst thing to happen to Yahoo. What was her golden parachute like? Also, let me guess, shes going to fail upwards yet again
 
C

chadskin

Member
riotous said:
So sounds like Yahoo as we know it (a web site. a news source, etc.) isn't changing its name.

Yahoo and Yahoo news, etc are now owned by Verizon.

Altaba is the new name for the company that just sold off most of its assets.

Is that right? Altaba now has nothing to do with Yahoo.com hence the name change?

Yahoo.com isn't changing it's name, either are other branded assets.
Click to expand...

I don't think we know at this time what'll happen with the Yahoo brand and/or Yahoo-branded products as Verizon hasn't said what they plan to do with them. There'll probably be a transitional period once the sale is approved and completed but beyond that, who knows -- especially after the two Yahoo hacks that have become public since the deal was agreed to, Verizon may want to retire the brand after all.
 
R

radios shipping overview

Member
Sounds like the resulting company after the sale of the core businesses will basically be a holding company, so there's not much reason to keep the old name. Now Yahoo Japan and Yahoo Mail will be run by totally separate companies.

I really hope Tumblr and Flickr come out of this intact.
 
R

riotous

Banned
chadskin said:
I don't think we know at this time what'll happen with the Yahoo brand and/or Yahoo-branded products as Verizon hasn't said what they plan to do with them. There'll probably be a transitional period once the sale is approved and completed but beyond that, who knows -- especially after the two Yahoo hacks that have become public since the deal was agreed to, Verizon may want to retire the brand after all.
Click to expand...

Yeah sure; but most in the thread seem to think yahoo.com is changing to altaba.com, which isn't what this story is about.

An eventual folding of the services into something Verizon branded is possible, but the Yahoo "brand" is essentially owned by them now.
 
P

Peccavi

Member
So I'm assuming Fantasy Football is included in the "core business" that's sticking under the Yahoo name (under Verizon)?
 
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