Verizon will sell its media group, which includes brands from AOL and Yahoo, to private equity firm Apollo Global Management.
Verizon will sell its media group to private equity firm Apollo Global Management for $5 billion, the companies announced Monday. The sale enables Verizon to offload properties from the former internet giants AOL and Yahoo.
The sale will see brands under the former Yahoo and AOL umbrellas like TechCrunch, Yahoo Finance and Engadget go to Apollo at significantly lower valuations than they boasted just a few years ago. Verizon bought AOL for $4.4 billion in 2015 and Yahoo two years later for $4.5 billion.
Verizon will get $4.25 billion in cash from the sale along with retaining a 10% stake in Yahoo. Verizon and Apollo said they expect the transaction to close before the end of the year.
Last year, Verizon sold HuffPost to BuzzFeed and sold off or shut down other media properties like Tumblr and Yahoo Answers. Analysts believe the company will now focus on its wireless networks and other internet provider businesses.
