美電商Verizon將宣佈50億美元收購雅虎大綱

U.S. telecom giant Verizon Communications is set announce on Monday plans to buy Yahoo's search and advertising operations for about $5 billion.

Yahoo, which introduced many users around the world to the Internet, announced in February that it was looking at "strategic alternatives" for its core Internet business.

Over the last few years Yahoo has struggled to keep up with the changing Internet advertising landscape, with some analysts arguing that it has failed to remain relevant.

Chief executive Marissa Mayer, who came from Google to take the helm in 2012, has made little progress in returning the company to profit. Last week the firm reported a $440 million loss in the second quarter.

The reported price tag for the deal is well below the firm's $125 billion market value at the height of the boom. In 2008, Yahoo spurned a $44 billion bid from Microsoft.

The deal would allow Yahoo to separate its main assets from its holdings in Chinese Internet giant Alibaba, which accounts for most of Yahoo's $37 billion market value. It will also allow Verizon to integrate Yahoo with another online acquisition, AOL, to create a digital group capable of taking on the likes of Google and Facebook.

The sale is expected to be announced Monday before the U.S. financial markets open.美國電信運營商Verizon準備週一宣佈以大約50億美元收購雅虎的搜索引擎及網絡廣告工具。

曾經幫助世界上衆多用戶認識互聯網的雅虎公司今年2月宣佈將爲它的互聯網核心業務尋找“戰略性替代方案”。

過去幾年，雅虎一直在努力趕上網絡廣告生態變化的步伐。但一些分析人士提出，它在市場上已經無關緊要了。

瑪麗莎·梅耶爾（Marissa Mayer）2012年離開谷歌就任雅虎首席執行官，她在讓公司轉虧爲盈方面收效甚微。上星期，雅虎通報說它第二季度損失了4.4億美元。

據報雅虎的收購價格遠低於它在互聯網泡沫時期的高峯市價1250億美元。2008年，微軟曾試圖以440億美元收購雅虎，但遭到雅虎拒絕。

Verizon的收購計劃可以使雅虎把其主要資產從它在中國網絡巨頭阿里巴巴所持股份中剝離出來，這筆資產佔雅虎370億美元市場價的一大部分，同時可以使Verizon把雅虎和它收購的美國在線合併起來組成一個集團，與谷歌和臉書這類公司抗衡。

收購預計在星期一美國金融市場開市前宣佈。