Whatever that will be left of Yahoo after its takeover by Verizon will be merged with AOL to form a new company called Oath. That perhaps is the farthest that anyone could have ever expected the once iconic Yahoo brand to come to be known as post the acquisition process though that’s exactly how things stand at the moment.
Also, Oath will have over a billion strong user base to start with though analysts are skeptical the figure is likely to change drastically once the dust starts settling. Overall, Oath will begin operations with more than 20 brands under them. No wonder, those include some of the best-known media sites or services.
Among the sites that will come under the purview of Oath and previously belonged to AOL include Engadget, TechCrunch, Huffington Post, MapQuest and so on. Yahoo will be bringing to the table some equally successful names such as Tumblr, Flickr and such. Then there also are the respective messaging services – AOL Messenger and Yahoo Messenger.
AOL CEO Tim Armstrong is already exuding confidence Oath will be scaling new heights of success and user experience, as is evident in his Twitter message announcing the new development. He, however, didn’t explain what made them to name the new company as Oath, of all things.
Interestingly, Twitter soon came alive with Oath becoming the butt of a joke. From the initial reaction at least, what seems evident is that the company bosses will have to work really hard to make the brand as one that the masses will take pride to be associated with.
The Yahoo brand had grown to iconic status over the years and enjoyed instant recognition. Under the circumstances, it is really a pity the way Yahoo is being pushed towards oblivion. Yahoo News, Yahoo Search or Yahoo Mail, those were the stuff that generations have grown with over the years.
Of course, the multiple security breaches that Yahoo suffered didn’t do the brand any good. The company’s conduct post the breaches too have raised more than a few questions. That said, old-timers along with perhaps the gen-next too would have rallied behind a thoroughly revamped Yahoo brand though its current owners, Verizon seems to have other ideas.
