Tim Armstrong squirms when asked if Yahoo hack will impact Verizon deal
It's too early to comment on whether last week's disclosure of a massive 2014 hacking of Yahoo (YHOO) would push Verizon (VZ) to renegotiate its deal to buy Yahoo's core internet assets, Tim Armstrong, chief executive of Verizon-unit AOL, said Monday.
"On both sides, the contract has very good protections ... on the sale process," he said — responding to the questions raised in a Wall Street Journal report last week by a mergers and acquisitions attorney about whether Verizon has any recourse.
Armstrong said in an interview on CNBC's "Squawk Box" that Verizon is working with Yahoo to understand the scope of the data breach. He described the process as proceeding "calmly" and "methodically."
Asked several times during the interview about the potential Yahoo hack impact, Armstrong deflected, and spoke about the importance of keeping the data breach investigation separate from the Yahoo integration with Verizon.
The key questions, according to Armstrong, are: When did Yahoo know about the hack? And when did it let Verizon know?
The New York Post on Monday reported executives at Verizon are said to be at war over how to proceed with its $4.8 billion Yahoo deal, which was announced in July after a bidding process.
Verizon bought AOL last year for $4.4 billion.
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