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Apollo is close to buying internal Verizon media including Yahoo

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The privately held U.S. capital Apollo Global Management Group is close to acquiring the assets of Yahoo and Verizon Communications from other media outlets, people familiar with the situation said the telecommunications team is focusing its focus on network business and the development of 5G wireless technology.

People added that Apollo could announce a planned deal that would pay between $ 4 billion and $ 5 billion in assets.

It would lead to a huge turnaround for the U.S. wireless operator, which spent about $ 9 billion between 2015 and 2017 as the anchor property of the online media division of Yahoo and AOL. He became known as Oath.

The strategy reflected the widespread thinking among the world’s largest telecommunications companies, who wanted to take advantage of the explosion in digital media consumption by becoming content owners rather than mere or “dumb” network operators.

Netflix and Amazon have built huge online media businesses to meet consumer demand for video, and media outlets such as Disney and ViacomCBS have raced to adapt their businesses to changing consumer habits. building streaming platforms on their own.

But telecommunications companies in general have made efforts to establish themselves as the creators and owners of programming distributed across cellular and cable networks.

Verizon’s fights aren’t the only ones. A bigger rival to AT&T he acquired Time Warner, Owner of CNN, HBO and Warner Brothers, for about $ 85.4 billion five years ago, to build a streaming business capable of tackling Netflix.

The strategy has so far been a mixed success. AT&T took charge of $ 15.5 billion in the paid-TV business in January as customers switched to cable and satellite streaming platforms.

Verizon also hoped to create a content and marketing platform that would allow it to compete with Google and Facebook. However, it did not gain significant market share from competitors, forcing it to reconsider its broader strategy, said one person with direct knowledge of the subject.

Media asset sales underscore Verizon’s decision to double the expansion of 5G Internet services, which in December last year covered 230 million people in more than 2,700 cities in more than 2,700 cities.

Verizon made a $ 4.6 billion cut in its media business during 2018, after the brand “increased competitiveness and market pressures.” . . which resulted in lower-than-expected revenues and profits, ”the company said in an archive.

“These pressures were expected to continue and in the digital advertising business caused our competitors to lose position in the market,” the file added.

Verizon “got fewer advantages than expected from the integration… Yahoo and AOL,” he said.

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