Oath and Mozilla are in a legal battle over a Yahoo search deal
Yahoo's new owner Oath — which, in turn, is owned by telecom giant Verizon — is now in a legal battle with browser company Mozilla over a search deal that was struck by former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer.
Last week, Yahoo Holdings and Oath filed a complaint against Mozilla, alleging that it improperly terminated an agreement between Mozilla and Yahoo. Now, Mozilla just filed a cross-complaint, claiming breach of contract.
Mozilla announced that it was going back to Google, which had been its longtime search provider, in mid-November in the U.S., Canada, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Google had remained its partner in other countries and Mozilla also has deals with Yandex in Russia and Baidu in China. At the time, it also announced a new browser, Firefox Quantum.
Mozilla's counter-claim says that Yahoo!/Oath missed payments.
Yahoo Holdings complaint and Mozilla blog post.
Also at The Register and ZDNet.
Previously: Firefox Deal With Yahoo not Secured. Mozilla Could Lose Their Main Sponsor
Mozilla Could Walk Away from a New Yahoo Owner and Still Get $1 Billion
Verizon to Buy (Parts of) Yahoo! For $4.83 Billion
Verizon to House Yahoo! and AOL Under "Oath" Brand
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https://techpinions.com/is-firefox-search-worth-375myear-to-a-yahoo-buyer/45144
As the search deal between Yahoo and Firefox is not standing on the winning side seen in profit numbers as it seems lately, a possible Yahoo buyer could have less interest in sponsoring Firefox as it is a very expensive contract.
If there would be a chance for a possible buyer to cancel the contract, Mozilla suddenly would be without main sponsor.
Under terms of a contract that has been seen by Recode, whoever acquires Yahoo might have to pay Mozilla annual payments of $375 million through 2019 if it does not think the buyer is one it wants to work with and walks away.
That's according to a clause in the Silicon Valley giant's official agreement with the browser maker that CEO Marissa Mayer struck in late 2014 to become the default search engine on the well-known Firefox browser in the U.S.
Mozilla switched to Yahoo from Google after Mayer offered a much more lucrative deal that included what potential buyers of Yahoo say is an unprecedented term to protect Mozilla in a change-of-control scenario.
Additional coverage at Ars Technica .
Yahoo! has finally found a billions-slinging buyer for its "assets":
Verizon Communications Inc said Monday it would buy Yahoo Inc's core internet properties for $4.83 billion in cash to expand its digital advertising and media business, in a deal that ends a lengthy sale process for the fading Web pioneer. The purchase of Yahoo's operations will boost Verizon's AOL internet business, which it bought last year for $4.4 billion, and give it access to Yahoo's ad technology tools, BrightRoll and Flurry, and assets such as search, mail and messenger.
The deal, expected to close in early 2017, marks the end of Yahoo as an operating company, leaving it with a 15 percent stake in Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and a 35.5 percent interest in Yahoo Japan Corp. "The sale of our operating business, which effectively separates our Asian asset equity stakes, is an important step in our plan to unlock shareholder value for Yahoo," Yahoo Chief Executive Marissa Mayer said in a statement on Monday.
Did you know that Verizon owns TechCrunch?
Microsoft executives recalled a previous buyout attempt and breathed a sigh of relief:
In February 2008 Microsoft Corporation made an unsolicited bid to acquire Yahoo for US$44.6 billion. Yahoo formally rejected the bid, claiming that it "substantially undervalues" the company and was not in the interest of its shareholders. Three years later Yahoo had a market capitalization of US$22.24 billion.
martyb: Registered on 1995-01-18, yahoo.com has been around for a long time. Many services were made available on their site such as e-mail, groups, finance. What, if any, of their services have you used? Do you still use them? What are your plans in light of the buyout?
Verizon. Yahoo! AOL. Oath:
Tim Armstrong, the head of Verizon's AOL division, announced Oath in a Twitter post on Monday afternoon: "Billion+ Consumers, 20+ Brands, Unstoppable Team. #TakeTheOath. Summer 2017."
The brand will apply to the digital media division of Verizon after it buys Yahoo's internet assets for $4.48 billion, a deal that is expected to close by the end of June. But do not count the legacy brands out just yet: Yahoo, AOL and The Huffington Post will continue to exist and operate with their own names — under the Oath umbrella.
[...] Many greeted the announcement with bewilderment, with some suggesting that Oath sounded like the name of a heavy metal band.
Also at Yahoo News (AFP) and Ars Technica.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Gaaark on Friday December 08 2017, @02:22AM (8 children)
What the hell is AOL and Yahoo?
AOL used to be what you called those disks you got in the mail by the thousands and I heard an old person mention yahoo once, but they're extinct now, aren't they?
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Kymation on Friday December 08 2017, @03:28AM (1 child)
Companies buy up failing companies and combine them. Somehow that's supposed to make them successful. While it sometimes works (IBM was formed by combining three failing manufacturing businesses) it usually seems to result in a larger failing company.
Maybe AOL and Yahoo have some assets we don't know about. A lot of cash in the bank, a large CD pressing plant (those AOL CDs had to come from somewhere). Maybe it just makes it easier to loot the resulting company and then bankrupt it. Or maybe they want to persuade someone else that it has value so they can resell it at a profit.
You probably have to have an MBA from some big school to understand their reasoning.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 08 2017, @09:51AM
That is not why they do it. The process is to enrich the executives involved in the transaction, even if it comes at the expense of stockholders.
Everyone understands greed.
(Score: 3, Informative) by captain normal on Friday December 08 2017, @03:36AM (4 children)
Hey if it wasn't for AOL and all the free CDROMs we would never have been able make shiny ashtrays, or flashy room dividers not to mention solar cookers. Actually AOL was the first to charge a flat fee for internet connections. 20$ a month for all the 56 kbs you could use. They also provided million of folks an email address and a presence on the interwebby thingy.
As for Yahoo...that was something weird that happened between Alta Vista/ Dog Pile and google. Not sure what it was though.
When life isn't going right, go left.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Arik on Friday December 08 2017, @03:51AM (1 child)
A catastrophe which is mourned by my people.
http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/S/September-that-never-ended.html
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Friday December 08 2017, @05:06AM
And thus we now have SN...spawn of /. and MySpace. :-))
When life isn't going right, go left.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 08 2017, @12:25PM
Don't forget holiday ornaments. Microwave a CD for a few seconds, and you get a light show in the microwave and a disk with all kinds of pretty fractal-like blue lines through it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 08 2017, @01:49PM
Some of us greybeards remember AOL floppies. They at least could be re-used. I once got an AOL disk at the drive-thru at McDonalds much to my surprise. Never used AOL but I did use CompuServe until I got sick of the slow speed and discovered a local dialup.
(Score: 2) by stretch611 on Friday December 08 2017, @07:32AM
Yahoo... hmm... sounds familiar...
oh, yeah... I know... its a Web Directory [wikipedia.org]... one of those new fangled things on that series of tubes.
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
(Score: 5, Funny) by aristarchus on Friday December 08 2017, @04:23AM
I have always wondered how much money could be made off of this sort of default setting. Now we may actually get some numbers? And then I might be able to divide by the number of users, and figure out what my bill to Mozilla and Yahoo for past collusion should be.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 08 2017, @06:34AM (1 child)
Remnants? Is that like splotches of the silver Terminator munching on your leg?
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Friday December 08 2017, @03:26PM
Very much, something like that. Though, I would say a Terminator munching on your leg would be much more of a personal impact.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 08 2017, @05:57PM
Did somebody notice how many companies are wiped out to make place for other companies that are shittier and much less useful than the ones being replaced. Looks like someone does not like older companies when it comes to social contacts at least. They are systematically broken and destroyed.
Sounds like the work of jews.
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Saturday December 09 2017, @02:07AM
Good god Yahoo!, you really don't know why you were kicked to the curb? You mean someone gotta spell it out for you? It's because your search results are *S*H*I*T*. I'd use it as it's the default on Linux Mint sometimes just for kicks and man, it was always off. Switch to Duck Duck Go and you get results that rival google's.