It’s the end of an Internet era. When Yahoo’s sale of its core email and web portal business to Verizon is complete, the company plans to change its name to Altbaba. The change reflects the company’s change in focus from email, news, and other consumer Internet service to their new focus as a major stakeholder in the Chinese import company Ailbaba.
Several members of the board, including CEO Marissa Mayer, will step down. Mayer is expected to go to Verizon with the Internet services business. We told you last week that Verizon has expressed concern about the nearly $5 billion deal due to massive data breaches that exposed the personal information of Yahoo Mail users.
What do you think of the sale? Do you think Yahoo Mail users will be better served by a company like Verizon that is focused on communications, as opposed to a company where something else is the focus? (Remember, Verizon also acquired AOL for $4 billion in 2015.) No word yet on what, if any changes, are in store for Yahoo! Mail users.
Let us know what you think in the comments.
~ Cynthia
i am aol user and have not noticed too much change to aol with yahoo i belong to several groups so hope they would still be there – they are only company with groups – aol never had any to speak of and years later along came my space, and then facebook, twitter and the other one cant remember name but no one has had groups like yahoo – if verizon owns both aol and yahoo isnt that a conflict to interests? sure veriaon has appointed all their bells and whistles to the fed govt
Just remember bigger does not better, the bigger they get the service is terrible.
Does this mean we’ll need to change email addresses? Can’t imagine going thru the headache of notifying all my contacts. What a mess for us who have been with Yahoo for 10+ years? Trish
No indication that email addresses will change. The email and web portal portion of the business is being sold to Verizon. When Verizon purchased the mail potion of AOL, there were no changes to addresses.
I’ve been a Yahoo Plus subscriber since 1998 – Yahoo has managed to mess up mail with every change since the first when we lost most of the fonts we had in the original version. The only thing they’ve actually improved over the years is storage space, but I pay for that, and no ads. If there is any significant change, they will finally lose me for good, so fair warning. It ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Now I understand. My AOL Desktop has been driving me nuts for some time now. I cannot go from one page to another without getting their “whoops” message and then a page telling me they have a problem and will restore the page, etc. I have written to them, spent time on the phone and it’s still the same old deal. Why do I put up with it, you ask. Well, I really like Desktop’s email program. Didn’t know about the change in ownership. Guess maybe Outlook or GMail is the only option.(?)
I hope I don’t have to change my email address. I would not pick that name. Altbaba is a toungue twister.
Altbaba is selling off the email portion of their business to Verizon.
I’ve never trusted Verizon, nor have I liked Yahoo. This exchange will only continue to make everything the people have worked for over the past few years to be destroyed and handed over to Big Business. And we know just how little Big Business cares about the consumer. “I’ll take your money, but you get only what I want to give you,” is their unwritten motto. Just selling off US services to another crooked business, this time in China.
It seems the new focus will not be to serve us normal email users. I’m not certain of the new direction but it doesn’t appeal to me. AOL service has been terrible, I get so many “whoops” that I’m going to whoops them right out of my life. Looks like yahoo will be right behind them. Big isn’t better!
I have had yahoo since i started emails. Which is a long time. I am not happy
WHY CHINA?????. What ever happened to keeping business in the US.
The parent company of Yahoo hasn’t left the U.S., they’ve just purchased a large stake in a Chinese company. They are selling the email portion of the business to Verizon.
I think it’s Altaba – with 1 “b”. Not the best name but they want the tie to Alibaba. But, “alt” sounds too political since it’s in political news these days. Alihoo might have been a better choice.
I have slowly started changing to a new carrier already, and will be completely void of Yahoo in a few weeks.
Will my new email address be @Altbaba? A link to China? Don’t we have enough “China” in our daily life? All I can say is BOOOOOO and it isn’t a Halloween meaning to that word. I wonder if there will be a better service anywhere? I’ve already had cc compromised due to yahoo…can Verizon do better at security?? Again I say, BOOOOOO
The Yahoo parent company, the one that is changing its name to Altbaba, is selling the email and web portal business to Verizon.
NO NO NO>>> Yahoo DO NOT sell to China or any one else…!! The company is doing great & soooo many of us like it and have been Yahoo users for many years….Aren’t there enough changes taking place?? Why add more stress to an already stressful world, by taking away Yahoo, our personal & private sorce?? And the word “Altbaba” sound like I’m talking to a baby..AGAIN…NO,NO,NO…DON’T!!!!!!!
Yahoo Mail isn’t being sold to a Chinese company. It’s being sold to Verizon. The parent company of Yahoo purchased a large interest in the Chinese importer Alibaba and is selling off the email and web portal portion of the company to Verizon to concentrate on the more profitable import business.
AT&T’s webmail is provided by Yahoo!. I’m afraid that there will be many unhappy AT&T prescribers, including me, when their accounts need to be changed and renamed.
Good, maybe I’ll be able to change password…………..
To change your password for AT&T/Yahoo!, do the following.(I just changed my password.) Go to https://att.yahoo.com/
Click “Sign in” at top right of page
In sign-in window at right, click “Forgot password?”
Check/Tick “Password”
Type in “User ID
Type in “Last name”
Click “Continue”
Enter user ID and password
Click “Enter”
Click “Mail” and go from there.
Follow this process for each individual e-mail account you have with AT&T/Yahoo!. Hope that helps!
I don’t like this. As stated earlier, any changes Yahoo makes are usually not good. I have had my Yahoo email address for so long, everyone I email with knows this email address. I hope I don’t have to change it. I hate that it is a link with China. Obviously they will have knowledge of all our emails then. I think I will have to go to a different email service now.
I still have a Yahoo address but I hardly use it since I went to g-mail…
I have to use Yahoo! as webmail because of AT&T being my ISP. I like Gmail though and have a Gmail account also. I prefer Gmail’s account setup definitely over Yahoo!’s.
I like Yahoo mail. I dislike Verizon (they are so greedy and pushy!) I guess I s/d start looking for a new email server.
I was using Yahoo mail back in the 1990’s …And at that time there was Yahoo chat with video and audio so you could see and hear who you were chatting with…. That’s why I couldn’t understand all the excitement over Facebook. Yahoo had all that stuff years before Facebook even appeared! They should not change their name. I haven’t been on there for years so I guess it does not matter what they do.
-Bill B.
Hello. And Bye.