AOL chief executive Tim Armstrong at Advertising Week New York 2016
When Verizon merges Yahoo with AOL after its acquisition of Yahoo closes, the newly created division will get a new name.
That new name is Oath, sources tell Business Insider.
In a deal that was announced in July, Verizon will acquire Yahoo’s core internet business for about $4.8 billion in cash.
Yahoo will be merged with Verizon’s AOL unit under Marni Walden, the executive vice president and president of product innovation and new businesses, with Verizon scooping up Yahoo’s search, mail, content, and ad-tech businesses.
In January, Yahoo announced in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that after the close of the merger, the parts of Yahoo that Verizon is not buying — which includes Yahoo’s 15% of the Chinese retail giant Alibaba and a part of Yahoo Japan, a joint venture with SoftBank — would continue under the name Altaba.
It’s unclear if the Yahoo name will live on for any part of the internet business that will be run by AOL. However, a big new branding campaign is expected in the coming weeks, along with more details about the new company.
Yahoo declined to comment on the new name. While an AOL spokeswoman neither confirmed nor denied the new name, she told us to watch for the “launching” of the new company.
“In the summer of 2017, you can bet we will be launching one of the most disruptive brand companies in digital,” she said.
The Yahoo-Verizon deal is supposed to close in the second quarter of 2017, perhaps on or before April 24. After April 24, the parties can seek a three-month extension, but there’s also an opening for either party to terminate the deal.
Update: AOL CEO Tim Armstrong confirmed the new name, posting on his Twitter account Monday afternoon: “Billion+ Consumers, 20+ Brands, Unstoppable Team. #TakeTheOath. Summer 2017.”
Billion+ Consumers, 20+ Brands, Unstoppable Team. #TakeTheOath. Summer 2017. pic.twitter.com/tM3Ac1Wi36
— Tim Armstrong (@timarmstrongaol) April 3, 2017
by Avery Hartmans and Julie Bort
