Verizon executive says company unsure about Yahoo deal

(Reuters) - A senior Verizon Communications Inc executive said on Thursday that the company was unsure about its planned acquisition of Yahoo Inc's internet business.

Yahoo came under renewed scrutiny by federal investigators and lawmakers last month after disclosing the largest known data breach in history, prompting Verizon to demand better terms for its planned purchase.

"I can't sit here today and say with confidence one way or another because we still don't know," Marni Walden, president of product innovation and new businesses at Verizon, said at the Citi 2017 Internet, Media & Telecommunications Conference in Las Vegas.

Walden added that the merits of the deal still made sense and that there were certain aspects of the investigation that had yet to be completed.

 

She did not provide a time-frame for the completion of the deal.

"We think it will take weeks at least, we don't have a desire to have it drag on forever, that's not our intent," Walden said.

However, AOL Chief Executive Tim Armstrong told CNBC that he expected the Verizon-Yahoo deal would likely go through. AOL was acquired by Verizon in 2015 for $4.4 billion. http://cnb.cx/2iUh4pX

Yahoo's shares were up 3.09 percent at $41.30, while Verizon's shares were relatively unchanged in late afternoon trading.

(Reporting by Aishwarya Venugopal and Narottam Medhora in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel and Sriraj Kalluvila)