Yahoo loses its independence in $4.8bn purchase

Verizon Communications agreed to buy Yahoo’s web assets for $4.83bn (€4.39bn), ending the company’s two-decade run as an independent business that took it from Stanford University startup at the dawn of the internet age to also-ran behind nimbler online rivals such as Google and Facebook.

Verizon will pay cash in a deal that includes Yahoo real estate, but excludes some intellectual property, which will be sold separately.

Yahoo will be left with its stakes in Alibaba and Yahoo Japan, with a combined market value of about $40bn.