What Happened to Oath Inc.?

Oath Inc. was created by Verizon in June 2017, bringing together its AOL assets, acquired in 2015 for $4.4 billion, and the core internet business of Yahoo, acquired in 2017 for $4.48 billion. The vision was to build a powerful digital media and advertising company with over 50 brands and a billion consumers, aiming to rival digital advertising giants like Google and Facebook. Tim Armstrong, former AOL CEO, was appointed CEO of Oath.

Verizon's strategy was to leverage its mobile network strength with a vast portfolio of content and advertising technology to capture a larger share of the digital advertising market. The company believed that combining these legacy internet giants would create a "disruptive brand company in digital." However, Oath Inc. struggled to meet its ambitious goals and compete effectively in a market dominated by established players.

A key turning point occurred in December 2018 when Verizon announced a massive $4.6 billion goodwill impairment charge on Oath, effectively slashing its value to approximately $200 million on paper. This acknowledged that the business had not achieved the anticipated benefits and faced intense competitive pressures. Following this, in January 2019, Oath Inc. was officially rebranded as Verizon Media, signaling a shift in strategy and an attempt to better align the media assets with the parent company's brand.

Verizon continued to divest assets under the Verizon Media umbrella, selling Tumblr to Automattic in August 2019 and HuffPost to BuzzFeed in November 2020. The most significant divestment came in May 2021 when Verizon announced the sale of 90% of Verizon Media (including Yahoo and AOL) to private equity firm Apollo Global Management for $5 billion. Verizon retained a 10% stake. The acquisition by Apollo Global Management was completed in September 2021, and Verizon Media was rebranded as Yahoo Inc., operating as a standalone company under Apollo's ownership.

Under Apollo's ownership, further changes occurred. In October 2025, Yahoo Inc. reached a deal to sell AOL to the Italian conglomerate Bending Spoons for approximately $1.5 billion, a transaction that was quietly completed in January 2026. Additionally, AOL officially discontinued its dial-up internet service on September 30, 2025, marking the end of an era for the pioneering internet service provider.

As of April 10, 2026, the entity that was once Oath Inc. is now primarily Yahoo Inc., owned by Apollo Global Management (90%) and Verizon (10%). Yahoo continues to operate its well-known consumer brands such as Yahoo Mail, Yahoo News, Yahoo Finance, and Yahoo Sports. The company is actively investing in artificial intelligence, as evidenced by its March 2026 NewFront presentation, where it unveiled "Yahoo Scout" as a new AI answer engine and intelligence platform, and an AI-powered "Planner" integrated into Yahoo Mail, emphasizing its AI-first platform strategy. AOL, now under Bending Spoons, continues to provide email and news aggregation services.