“Verizon’s long-promised Yahoo acquisition has a name. And it, for some reason, is Oath,” Techcrunch reported.
On Monday, Tim Armstrong, AOL’s chief executive, announced in a tweet:
Billion+ Consumers, 20+ Brands, Unstoppable Team. #TakeTheOath. Summer 2017. http://pic.twitter.com/tM3Ac1Wi36
— Tim Armstrong (@timarmstrongaol) April 3, 2017
Additional information for the upcoming company is being kept under wraps.
Yahoo is remaining silent over the news, and an AOL spokeswoman gave Business Insider Oath’s launch date with a splash of jargon: “In the summer of 2017, you can bet we will be launching one of the most disruptive brand companies in digital.”
Recode also reported that Yahoo’s chief executive, Marissa Mayer, will not stay on when the new company is launched—nor will other Yahoo heads:
In addition, sources said that Armstrong is now close to making choices on which top Yahoo execs in Silicon Valley to keep and which to bid farewell to. Likely to stay, for example, is communications products head Jeff Bonforte, and likely to go is Adam Cahan, who has run a number of units under Mayer. On the bubble: CRO Lisa Utzschneider (she wants to be a CEO, apparently) and Enrique Muñoz Torres, who heads advertising and search product and engineering.
With additional company structure and branding news on the way, consumers’ focus is, for now, on the merger’s name—and that it mirrors Tribune Publishing’s decision to rebrand itself as Tronc.
Techcrunch reported:
Disruptive and unstoppable. You cannot beat the Oath, apparently. You can only hope to take it. As to precisely what’s meant by “tak[ing] the Oath,” 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.
"We wanted something that would be a name that would connect all the brands — Yahoo, AOL, Huffington Post, TechCrunch, Gadget," Armstrong said in an interview on "Squawk Box."
[RELATED: Create more effective executive communications to persuade, motivate and inspire any audience.]
Twitter users were quick to disagree—and to ridicule the move:
Tribune Publishing: "We will now be known as Tronc."
— A.J. Perez (@byajperez) April 3, 2017
Verizon: “Hold my beer.” https://t.co/KSP4C87tEO
AOL & Yahoo will merge to become Oath, because words mean nothing anymore. http://pic.twitter.com/zmpJ5Lm03V
— Matt Lipton (@mattliptoncomic) April 3, 2017
@timarmstrongaol "Oath (noun) - a profane or offensive expression used to express anger or other strong emotion." Yep, nailed the branding.
— Peter Delevett (@peterdelevett) April 3, 2017
@timarmstrongaol @darth I think they forgot about the 2nd meaning tbh http://pic.twitter.com/80jWbYkxOa
— James Petruzzi (@Hawaiianimages) April 3, 2017
10 better names than Oath:
— Money Badger (@gomoneybadger) April 3, 2017
-AOL
-Yahoo
-OAuth
-Legacy Internet Systems
-Oops
-Tronc
-[Remove Adblocker]
-Circa
-how send email?
-¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@timarmstrongaol OATH!
— Maltaplication (@Maltaplication) April 3, 2017
(The sound a company makes when it's slammed in the gut by a $4.8B payout)
@timarmstrongaol Did you all pay someone money to design this logo?
— Spencer Pitman (@AlcesBull) April 3, 2017
@timarmstrongaol Waaaay too close to "oauth" for 2 co.'s with massive data breaches...
— Brad Dunshee (@braddunshee) April 3, 2017
I keep reading "Oath" as "OAuth" and wondering why AOL would rebrand itself as an authentication protocol.
— Esteñ (@esten) April 3, 2017
The derision will probably continue as news of the upcoming company spreads—and social media users roll out the sarcasm and puns.
In case anyone needed encouragement, Recode’s Kara Swisher offered a T-shirt to the person with the best snarky tweet:
A free Recode t-shirt for anyone who tweets the best joke about that new brand to me in the next 24 hours with the hashtag #MockTheOath. (No, Tim Armstrong, you cannot play.)
from PR Daily News Feed http://ift.tt/2oylxUZ
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