Source: Verizon
Just one week after the value of Oath drops by 50 percent, Verizon (NASDAQ: VZ) announces that it will rebrand subsidiary Oath as the Verizon Media Group effective January 8. Oath is the result of a merger between Verizon properties AOL and Yahoo that took place last year. Oath owns HuffPost, TechCrunch, Engadget, Kanvas, AutoBlog, Tumblr and all of the Yahoo properties, including Yahoo News, Yahoo Weather and Yahoo Search.
New CEO Guru Gowrappan, who joined Oath in September, made the official announcement on December 18:
“I’m excited today to share that beginning January 8, 2019, Verizon Media Group will replace the Oath brand, representing out strong alignment as a core pillar of Verizon’s business,” said Gowrappan.
“This quarter, we’ve made it easier for people to access our unparalleled diversity and quality of consumer products, while making it easier for advertisers and publishers to solve their business challenges with the recent launch of our unified ad platforms. We’ve built on this strong foundation and set our advertising solutions apart by introducing over 20 new features this quarter, including engaging ad formats and unique supply such as digital OOH, connected TV and programmatic audio,” Gowrappan added.
Source: Verizon Media Group
In the CEO’s short tenure with the firm, the company has accelerated several programs and initiatives, including:
- Launching a multi-purpose Yahoo app that brings different Yahoo properties together – sports, weather, news, stock quotes, daily deals, video, search and more
- Expanding Yahoo Finance’s presence by going to their consumers with financial content. This will eventually evolve into a Yahoo Finance premium subscription.
- Live streaming football games
- Launching new features in Yahoo Mail to bring users deals and coupons
- HuffPost launched HuffPost LIFE, an expanded lifestyle section
- Relaunching Yahoo News so that their journalists can break major stories
- Changing Tumblr policies to provide a safe place for different types of communities
- Investing in evolving technologies including XR, AI, machine-learning, mobile-edge computing and 5G
The timing of the rebranding/unbranding is interesting because last week, Verizon told the SEC that it was taking a $4.6 billion charge against Oath’s goodwill balance. According to NBC News’ Alex Johnson, when Verizon last valued Oath, it was valued at $4.8 billion. That only leaves a valuation of $200 million, at least on paper. Oath still has $5 billion in assets, reports NBC News, but the company’s fourth quarter financials will surely take a hit.
Insider Take:
Source: Oath
This seems to be a case of another big name brand trying to create a brand – Oath – that just never really took off. Much like Tronc, Oath didn’t mean anything to people. It was merely corporate speak and an intriguing name which really didn’t resonate with people. Changing the name and rebranding/unbranding won’t have a real impact on the company, except redoing the logo, business cards, signage, etc., but the devaluation and hit to goodwill, revenue and assets in Q4 could take a significant hit.
