APOLLO NEARS DEAL TO BUY VERIZON’S MEDIA ASSETS

Apollo Global Management Inc. is close to buying the media assets of Verizon Communications Inc. in a deal that could be valued close to $5 billion, a source familiar with the matter told Greg Roumeliotis of Reuters.

Bloomberg had reported earlier on Sunday the announcement could come as soon as Monday. Verizon Communications and Apollo Global Management did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment.

Last week, Wall Street Journal reported that Verizon was exploring a sale of its media assets, which include Yahoo and AOL. Verizon has struggled to grow its media properties, declaring them nearly worthless with a $4.6 billion write-down in 2018.

In 2019, it divested blogging platform Tumblr for an undisclosed sum and last year sold news website HuffPost to BuzzFeed. Verizon also tested the market for potential buyers of Yahoo Finance, according to Reuters reporting, but had ultimately ended that search.

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