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Verizon evaluating 'material' effect of massive Yahoo hack

Verizon says it's examining the impact of the 2014 hack on the company it's spending $4.8 billion to buy.

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Verizon is looking at what impact Yahoo's massive hack in 2014 had on business.

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Verizon is investigating whether a massive hack on Yahoo in 2014 had a "material impact" on the company, suggesting it might seek to renegotiate the terms of its $4.8 billion acquisition.

Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam called the company "a real value asset" during a technology conference on Monday, according to The Wall Street Journal. But he went on to caution: "In fairness, we are still understanding what was going on and defining whether it was a material impact on the business or not.

"We are looking at this in great detail -- that is about all you can say until you finish the investigation," he said at the Internet Association's Virtuous Circle conference in Menlo Park, California.

McAdam's comments come less than a week after the New York Post reported that Verizon is seeking a $1 billion discount on the deal as a mountain of recent bad press casts a shadow on Yahoo.

Last week, it was reported that the US government had Yahoo surveil user emails for intelligence information. And last month, the company disclosed that hackers in 2014 swiped personal information associated with at least a half billion Yahoo accounts, marking the biggest data breach in history.

Representatives for Verizon and Yahoo did not immediately respond to requests for comment.