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Verizon to Buy Yahoo’s Core Business for $4.8 Billion (Report)

The board of Yahoo officially agreed to sell its core assets to Verizon, according to a New York Times report on Sunday.

The deal is expected to be announced on Monday, ending months of speculation.

The sale entails Yahoo’s core Internet business; the company’s stable of patents will be sold separately, as would its multibillion-dollar stakes in Chinese Internet powerhouse Alibaba Group and Yahoo Japan. Yahoo shareholders will retain about $41 billion in investments.

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is expected to step down after a failed bid to reinvigorate the company, but should walk away with a $55 million severance package.

While bidders have been vying for months to snap up the struggling Web portal, it wasn’t until last Friday that Verizon emerged the clear victor, though the company had long been regarded the odds-on favorite.

Verizon beat out AT&T, private-equity giant TPG and a consortium led by Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert, who’s also the majority owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Yahoo currently has 8,800 employees but that number is likely to decrease significantly once Verizon integrates the property and eliminates positions where synergies with existing assets can be realized.

The acquisition will require regulatory approval, though isn’t expected to face opposition.

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