Q: For people that use Yahoo! or AOL email, what happens to their accounts now that Verizon has sold these assets? Will they need to seek out new providers? How does this work for consumers?
— Connie G., Hobe Sound
A: In May 2021, Verizon sold its equity share in both AOL and Yahoo! to Apollo Global Management for approximately $5 billion. In addition to the main brands involved, the sale also included entities like TechCrunch and Engadget, as well as a number of AOL and Yahoo! subproperties, such as Yahoo! Mail, AOL Mail, Yahoo! Mobile, Yahoo! Finance, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Sports and Yahoo! Fantasy.
According to reports, Verizon originally purchased AOL and Yahoo! so it could compete for advertising revenue with Facebook and Google but failing that it decided to sell most of its media-based entities so could now focus more on technology-based ventures (though specifics as to what those might be have not been revealed yet).
What does this mean for current AOL Mail and Yahoo! Mail users? In the short term, not much.
According to research, currently there are more than 24 million active Yahoo! mail accounts and several million of those also subscribe to subproperties like Yahoo! Finance, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Sports and Yahoo! Fantasy.
AOL Free Email has a similar number of active accounts, it should be added, though only around 1.5 to 2 million of those hold some sort of AOL subscription, whether it be AOL Gold or Premium plans or even dial-up services. AOL states that several thousand people still use this once dominant dial-up service, believe it or not.
Shutting all those accounts down quickly and without notice would most likely cause much uproar, especially given the number of accounts involved and in all likelihood all these accounts should remain as is for the foreseeable future.
If or when anything happens, expect to receive several notifications from Yahoo!, AOL or Verizon prior to execution, detailing what will happen, why it's happening, when it will happen and what options you might have should you choose to part ways with one or both of the services.
Your stories live here.
Fuel your hometown passion and plug into the stories that define it.
The only concern presented at the moment might be for those with active AOL subscriptions. The number of these accounts has been declining in recent years and given that one would think that these would be the first to go if it came down to that.
But again, this is all speculation — nothing official has been released yet, nor have any firm plans been issued.
Nevertheless, if you have any concerns or additional questions, then your best source for answers at this point will be AOL Customer Support, which can be contacted via the information at this URL: https://help.aol.com/contact.
Untangling the web
Fans of movie magic and graphic design will find much to admire at this colorful destination — impawards.com — which serves as the online home for the Internet Movie Poster Awards.
Not only can you view posters for countless upcoming releases for both domestic and international markets, you can also see posters from movies past, including an archive that dates back to titles released in 1912.
In addition, the site features profiles on countless poster designers, actors, actresses and directors and also houses a scrolling list of graphic designer job openings for the entertainment industry. The site's namesake awards have been issued annually since 1999, by the way.