Verizon angling to lower price of Yahoo purchase: report

Verizon Communications Inc. is reportedly renegotiating the terms of its acquisition of Yahoo Inc., knocking $250 million off its previous offer of $4.8 billion.

Two massive Yahoo security breaches that came to light in 2016 spurred Verizon’s move, reports Bloomberg. According to its report, sources say both companies are expected to share legal culpability related to the breaches.

Those sources told Bloomberg that an official announcement of the new deal is expected within the next several weeks.

In September, Yahoo revealed a breach in which 500 million of its accounts had been compromised.

{mosads}At the end of the year, the company revealed a separate hack in which data was stolen from 1 billion of its users’ accounts. As with the first hack, stolen information included names, email addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, scrambled passwords and, in some cases, encrypted or unencrypted security questions and answers.

Earlier in 2016, Verizon announced that it was seeking to acquire Yahoo for $4.8 billion. After the revelations, several top officials at Verizon said that the hacks would likely “materially” impact that deal and result in a lower acquisition price.

Pressure is mounting from lawmakers on Capitol Hill to get answers from Yahoo on the security breaches. Last week, Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.), chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, and Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), chairman of the panel’s consumer protection and data security subcommittee, penned a letter to Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer demanding not-yet-released details on the breaches.

After the first breach, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the ranking member on the Judiciary Committee, called for a hearing. No congressional hearings on the matter have been announced, however.