Embattled Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer will step down from the company’s board once the proposed sale of its core business to Verizon is finalized, the company announced in a regulatory filing Monday.
Yahoo also announced that it will rename its surviving business Altaba Inc.
Verizon agreed to acquire Yahoo‘s core internet business for $4.8 billion in July — a far cry from the $45 billion Microsoft offered for the internet 1.0 pioneer back in 2008. But revelations of two separate hacking incidents — including one that compromised 1 billion accounts in August 2013 — have threatened even that more modest payday.
Verizon called the first revealed hack, which happened in 2014, something that could have a “material” impact on the sale. But, based on Monday’s filing, it appears the deal is back on track.
After selling off its core business to the telecom giant, Yahoo will be left with a 15 percent stake in Alibaba and 35.5 percent stake in Yahoo Japan, which will become part of a new investment company to be named Altaba.
Altaba’s board will be reduced to five members, which will include Tor Braham, Catherine Friedman, Thomas McInerney, Jeffrey Smith and Chairman Eric Brandt. In addition to Mayer, others leaving the Yahoo board include current chairman Maynard Webb, co-founder David Filo, Eddy Hartenstein, Richard Hill and Jane Shaw.
Mayer has made more than $200 million in her four-year stint at Yahoo.