NEW YORK (Reuters) – Verizon Communications sought almost triple the price reduction that it ultimately obtained for Yahoo’s core assets following two massive cyber attacks at the internet company, according to a Yahoo filing.
The closing of the deal, which Verizon first announced in July for a purchase price of $4.83 billion, had been delayed as the companies assessed the fallout from two data breaches that Yahoo disclosed last year. The No. 1 US wireless carrier had been trying to persuade Yahoo to amend the terms of the agreement following the attacks.
In early February, Verizon’s CEO Lowell McAdam told Yahoo director Tom McInerney a price reduction as high as $925 million could be appropriate, according to the filing. McInerney later told McAdam at a meeting in Verizon’s New York offices that Yahoo’s board was unwilling to agree to such a big discount.
The mobile operator said in late February it had agreed to a purchase price of $4.48 billion, lowering its original offer by $350 million.
A Verizon spokesman declined to comment on why it agreed to a lower discount that it had sought.
The filing also said Yahoo chief executive Marissa Mayer would get a severance package of $23 million if she were terminated.
(Reporting by Anjali Athavaley; Editing by David Gregorio)
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