This news couldn’t have hit yahoo at a worse time, with already falling stock prices and currently in negotiation with Verizon for its purchase. Yahoo’s market value just took another big hit. Yahoo was made aware of the breach in July and at that time it was speculated that 200 million accounts were compromised. Yahoo should have started damaged control then, two months later an additional 300 million accounts are added.
http://money.cnn.com/2016/09/22/technology/yahoo-data-breach/index.html
I know Marissa Mayer, current CEO of Yahoo, must be asking herself, “What did I get myself into?” I love Yahoo, but it is sad to see what is happening to the company. Yahoo simply failed to innovate the right way. They lost focus on who they are and the direction they should have taken. I believe Yahoo would have been in a much better place had they capitalized on their large platform to take the same direction as Amazon a long time ago, shopping and mobile. This news is already affecting Yahoo negatively because Verizon released a statement on this matter, and one could feel how Verizon is already trying to play it safe about the pending acquisition. Here is what Verizon’s statement, “Within the last two days, we were notified of Yahoo’s security incident. We understand that Yahoo is conducting an active investigation of this matter, but we otherwise have limited information and understanding of the impact. We will evaluate as the investigation continues through the lens of overall Verizon interests, including consumers, customers, shareholders and related communities. Until then, we are not in position to further comment.”