At the height of the bubble, it spent $4.5 billion to buy Geocities and $5.7 billion to buy Broadcast.com, but would later reportedly squander the chance to buy young versions of both Google and Facebook. She served as both operating chief and marketing chief for Verizon Wireless after getting her start at the company as a regional executive for both it and predecessor AirTouch Cellular.  Yahoo was once the king of the Internet, a $125 billion behemoth as big in its time as Facebook or Google are today. Yahoo shares closed 1.4 percent higher on Friday at $39.38, giving the company a market valuation of $37 billion. Yahoo will be left with its stakes in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Yahoo Japan Corp., with a combined market value of about $40 billion. Some can happen because of the scale Verizon brings, but we will continue to look at how we can scale and be a meaningful player from a double-digit market share, and by market share, I think about revenue.
– In its confirmation of Verizon's purchase of Yahoo's web assets, announced Monday morning, the Wall Street Journal describes it as a "remarkable fall" for Yahoo, once valued at more than $125 billion and now plucked up for less than 4% of that—$4.83 billion in cash. A rundown of the deal's specifics, and how it's being reported: Read CEO Marissa Mayer's lengthy letter to Yahooers about the "amazing opportunities [Yahoo will realize] in its next chapter" here. Bloomberg explains what Verizon is and isn't getting: yes to Yahoo's real estate, no to Yahoo's cash and its shares in Alibaba Group Holding. Business Insider reports AOL head Tim Armstrong will likely emerge as CEO of an AOL-Yahoo combo (Verizon bought AOL for $4.4 billion in 2015). It issues a warning: "The siren song of Yahoo has lured others before him. And Armstrong's desire to revive the struggling internet business may leave him blinded to the same trap as his predecessors." The Washington Post points out the Mayer turned down a deal to buy Yahoo two years ago—a deal Armstrong offered. It looks at what Armstrong, and Verizon, want with Yahoo. In her letter, Mayer writes, "For me personally, I'm planning to stay." It's unclear how long she'll stay for, or in what capacity. In a piece heralding the "saddest $5 billion deal in tech history," Forbes reports Mayer is expected to be handed a $50 million-plus severance package when she does go. Quartz looks at how the deal might allow Verizon to "mount a credible challenge to those two giants": Google and Facebook. The giants own about half the $69 billion US digital ad market. Verizon plus AOL plus Yahoo would claim about 5.2%. Recode profiles Marni Walden, the 49-year-old Verizon exec (and Armstrong boss and "rising star") who drove the deal. The New York Times uses a series of infographics to explain why Yahoo sold itself.