Verizon Media

Verizon Media (previously named Oath Inc.) is an American worldwide diversified mass media conglomerate that is a subsidiary and business segment of Verizon, Inc., that serves as the umbrella company of its film, television, publishing and online properties. The name "Oath" was chosen to convey its commitment to the digital media business upon its founding in June 2017, although it was ultimately rebranded as Verizon Media in January 2019.

The company was originally created after Verizon, which had acquired AOL on June 23, 2015, purchased Yahoo!'s operating business on June 13, 2017 and merged the two businesses together. Within Verizon Media, AOL and Yahoo! maintain their respective brands. In December 2018, Verizon announced it would write down $4.6 billion (about half) of the value of the combined AOL/Yahoo purchases.

On August 13, 2019, CBS Corporation and Viacom announced they would merge into a single entity for a second time. On the September 6 of that year, Verizon announced its intent to acquire both companies $185.4 billion. The merger closed seven months later, with Verizon Media becoming the parent company of the reunified CBS and Viacom properties. Comprising CBS Entertainment, cable networks (MTV Channels Worldwide and Showtime Networks), Paramount Pictures, Verizon Interactive and Simon & Schuster, Verizon Media operates approximately 170 networks, reaching approximately 700 million subscribers in approximately 160 countries.

Operations
Verizon Media is a subsidiary of Verizon. The company maintains dual headquarters at the former AOL and Yahoo! headquarters buildings in Manhattan, New York, and Sunnyvale, California. As of December 2018, the company employed about fourteen thousand people.

Acquisitions of AOL and Yahoo! and formation of Oath
Verizon announced a $4.4 billion deal to acquire AOL in May 2015. The deal was an effort by Verizon to expand its technology and media offerings. The deal officially closed a month later.

A year after the completion of the AOL acquisition, Verizon announced a $4.8 billion deal for Yahoo!'s core internet business, looking to invest in the internet company's search, news, finance, sports, video, email and Tumblr products. Yahoo! announced in September and December 2016 two major Internet security breaches affecting more than a billion customers. As a result, Verizon lowered its offer for Yahoo! by $350 million to $4.48 billion.

The AOL deal and subsequent Yahoo purchase were led by Verizon's management team, including Lowell McAdam (CEO), Marni Walden (EVP Product) and Tim Armstrong. Walden had been tasked with merging the two entities and delivering on the promise of moving Verizon from an analog to digital platforms business. Walden exited Verizon in 2017 and as later events revealed, the integration did not deliver the expected value.

Two months before closing the deal for Yahoo!, Verizon announced it would place Yahoo! and AOL under the Oath umbrella. The deal closed on June 13, 2017, and Oath was launched. Upon completion of the deal, Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer resigned. Yahoo! operations not acquired in the deal were renamed Altaba, a holding company whose primary assets are its 15.5 percent stake in Alibaba Group and 35.5 percent stake in Yahoo! Japan. After the merger, Oath cut fifteen percent of the Yahoo-AOL workforce.

Subsequent history
In April 2018, Helios and Matheson acquired the movie listings website Moviefone from Oath. As part of the transaction, Verizon took a stake in Helios and Matheson stock.

In May 2018, Verizon and Samsung agreed to terms that would preload four Oath apps onto Samsung Galaxy S9 smartphones. The agreement includes Oath’s Newsroom, Yahoo! Sports, Yahoo! Finance, and go90 mobile video apps (closed in July 2018), with integration of native Oath ads into both the Oath apps and Samsung’s own Galaxy and Game Launcher apps.

On September 12, 2018, it was announced that K. Guru Gowrappan would succeed Tim Armstrong as CEO, effective October 1.

On December 3, 2018, the company declared a new set of rules for the Tumblr community that will take effect December 17, 2018, banning "adult content". This move has raised objections that it harms their LGBTQ community, sexual abuse survivors, sex workers, adult content blogs, and other bloggers. The move came after the Tumblr app was removed from the Apple App Store due to issues with child pornography, leading some to speculate that the ban may have been made to regain access to the App Store.

In December 2018 Verizon announced that it was cutting 10% of Oath's workforce and would write down the value of the business by $4.6B. Verizon management blamed competitive pressures and that the business never achieved the anticipated benefits. The move wiped out all of the goodwill on the balance sheets that accompanied the acquisitions.

Oath was renamed Verizon Media on January 8, 2019.

CBS Entertainment
CBS Entertainment is the division of Verizon Media that is responsible for the CBS and The CW television networks, the latter being a 50/50 joint venture with AT&T's WarnerMedia. The division also contains Verizon Media's television production/distribution arms (CBS Television Studios, Paramount Television and CBS Television Distribution), CBS News, CBS Sports and CBS Television Stations. Joseph Ianniello heads the division as president.

Paramount Pictures
The Paramount Pictures group has operations in film production and distribution, home entertainment and digital distribution. It is one of the "Big Five" film studios, as well as a member of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). Notable franchises and/or properties in the Paramount catalogue include the Godfather films, Star Trek, Mission: Impossible, SpongeBob SquarePants, the Grease films, the Top Gun films, The Italian Job, the Transformers films, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles films, the Tomb Raider films, the Friday the 13th films, the Cloverfield films, the G.I. Joe films, the Beverly Hills Cop films, the Terminator films, the Pet Sematary films, the Without a Paddle films, Jackass, the Odd Couple films, South Park, the Crocodile Dundee films, the Charolette's Web films, the Wayne's World films, Beavis & Butthead, Jimmy Neutron, the War of the Worlds films, the Naked Gun films, the Anchorman films, Dora the Explorer, the Addams Family films, Rugrats, the Zoolander films, Æon Flux, the Ring films, the Bad News Bears films, The Wild Thornberrys, and the Paranormal Activity films.

Showtime Networks
Showtime Networks is the subsidiary of Verizon Media responsible for operating the company's premium cable/satellite networks, including the namesake Showtime network. David Nevins is the unit's current Chairman/CEO.

Notable people

 * Robert Bakish, Chairman and CEO
 * Jim Lazone, Vice Chairman
 * Sarah Kirshbaum Levy, CFO
 * Joseph Ianniello, President of CBS Entertainment
 * K. Guru Gowrappan, President of Verizon Interactive
 * Chris McCarthy, President and CCO of MTV Channels Worldwide
 * David Nevins, Chairman and CEO of Showtime Networks
 * Jim Gianopulos, Chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures
 * Carolyn Reidy, President and CEO of Simon & Schuster