Verizon is reportedly close to cutting the price of its deal to buy Yahoo, signaling that they could complete the acquisition soon.
According to Bloomberg News, the telecommunications company wants to lower the price of the $4.8 billion deal by $250 million.
The news follows reports late last year that Verizon was reconsidering the acquisition after a series of hacks at Yahoo. In September, Yahoo disclosed a 2014 hack that compromised 500 million user accounts. A separate attack, announced in December, hit more than 1 billion accounts.
Verizon first announced the deal to buy Yahoo’s core internet business in July 2016, but after discovering the first hack, the company said it was reconsidering the terms. The negotiations have significantly delayed the acquisition, and, in its January earnings report, Yahoo said it expected it to close in the second quarter of this year, rather than the first as was previously expected..
Yahoo’s stock rallied Wednesday on the report that a deal to change the terms could be close, jumping 1.8 percent by 8:30 a.m. Pacific.
