Following the news that Verizon are negotiating a price cut of $250-$350 million in their acquisition of Yahoo following news of two economically damaging cyber-attacks, Nick Pointon, Head of M&A at SQS commented below.
Nick Pointon, Head of M&A at SQS:
“As we had predicted, today Verizon has announced it will be negotiating a reduced deal to acquire Yahoo, following the previously undisclosed cyberattack. This hardly comes as a surprise, as Yahoo wasn’t completely transparent about the breach when in initial discussions with Verizon. Yahoo is now left feeling further ramifications of neglecting their IT systems in anticipation of the acquisition. This is a prime example of the knock on effect of poor technical due diligence prior to a merger or acquisition and is a stark reminder that issues unearthed during the closing stages of an acquisition have the potential to affect the final sale price. Had Yahoo addressed their IT systems and their security properly, in good time, the sale price would have been much higher.”
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