{"id":337504,"date":"2017-04-04T05:40:04","date_gmt":"2017-04-03T21:40:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/techcrunch.com\/?p=1472158"},"modified":"2017-04-04T05:40:04","modified_gmt":"2017-04-03T21:40:04","slug":"yahoo-aol-oath-for-some-reason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/yahoo-aol-oath-for-some-reason\/","title":{"rendered":"Yahoo + AOL = Oath, for some reason"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Verizon\u2019s long-promised Yahoo acquisition<\/a> has a name. And it, for some reason, is Oath. AOL CEO Tim Armstrong acknowledged the strange new branding on Twitter earlier today after word leaked out that the four-letter word was set to become the love child of the forthcoming AOL-Yahoo merger.<\/p>\n

\u201cBillion+ Consumers, 20+ Brands, Unstoppable Team,\u201d Armstrong tweeted<\/a>. \u201c#TakeTheOath. Summer 2017.\u201d The note also includes a simple logo for the new company in bolded Helvetica, further branded \u201cA Verizon Company,\u201d which combines AOL and Yahoo\u2019s respected branding punctuation into a blue colon.<\/p>\n

Armstrong\u2019s comments on the new brand are thus far limited to an acknowledgement of its existence and the promise that it\u2019s set to officially drop this summer. AOL has further commented<\/a> mysteriously, \u201cIn the summer of 2017, you can bet we will be launching one of the most disruptive brand companies in digital.\u201d<\/p>\n

Disruptive and unstoppable. You cannot beat the Oath, apparently. You can only hope to take it.\u00a0As to precisely what\u2019s meant by \u201ctak[ing] the Oath,\u201d well, your guess is as good as ours. The initial rumors that appear to have prompted the acknowledgment point to additional branding information and company details rolling out in the next week or so.<\/p>\n

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Verizon first announced its plans to acquire Yahoo back in July of last year, leaving the unpurchased\u00a0portions of the company to be branded under the similarly strange title, Altaba. In January, CEO Marissa Mayer stepped down from the company\u2019s board<\/a>. (And Kara Swisher over at Recode<\/a> is reporting that Mayer will not be staying on at the company.)<\/p>\n

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The deal has hit a number of bumps along the way, including the disclosure of multiple Yahoo security breaches. That helped drive the price down by $350 million to $4.48 billion in February<\/a>, which still makes for a pretty pricey oath.<\/p>\n

TechCrunch is owned by AOL, which is, in turn owned by Verizon. Hopefully a more sufficient instructional video is on the way<\/a>. In lieu of something more official, here\u2019s what the TC staff is saying about the new brand direction:<\/p>\n