Senior Verizon exec believes hack will affect Yahoo deal

Verizon’s chief financial officer said Thursday that his company assumes the recent Yahoo data breach will have a “material impact” on the internet company’s value, potentially affecting a proposed $4.8 billion deal between the companies.

“Look, [CEO Lowell McAdam and Verizon general counsel Craig Silliman] have both commented on this recently,” CFO Fran Shammo said on a call with analysts, according to TechCrunch.

“Let me just reiterate what they have said — we are still evaluating what it means for the transaction.”

{mosads}Shammo is the most senior employee at the telecom giant to comment on how the breach could affect Verizon’s proposed purchase of Yahoo. More than 500 million Yahoo accounts were affected by the breach, which could affect the company’s value.

Shammo also told analysts that Verizon and Yahoo lawyers just spoke for the first time about the subject and that their talks about the breach and its impact could take time.

McAdam previously refuted reports that Verizon was seeking to knock $1 billion off the proposed bid for Yahoo but did not say more about the breach.

Silliman also acknowledged that Verizon thought the breach could have a material impact on the deal.

“We have to assume it will have a material impact on Yahoo,” Silliman told reporters at a roundtable earlier in October.

Senate Judiciary Ranking Member Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) has said that he would like for the committee to hold a hearing with Yahoo officials regarding the breach.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who makes the call on a hearing, has said he is open to a hearing but has not given his decision.