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Altaba Inc. was a non-diversified, closed-end management investment company based in New York City[2] that was formed from the remains of the first incarnation of Yahoo! Inc. after Verizon had acquired old Yahoo's Internet business.[3] Verizon completed its acquisition on June 13, 2017, and put the assets under a new subsidiary named Yahoo! Holdings within its newly created division, Oath (now the current incarnation of Yahoo! Inc.).[4] After the transaction, Yahoo! Inc. had no operating business but retained its cash holdings, partnership investments and bond portfolio, as well as certain patents that Verizon did not purchase. It reorganized as an investment fund and changed its name to Altaba Inc. on June 16.[5][6][7] The only Yahoo!-branded interest held by Altaba was its stake in the joint venture Yahoo! Japan, which it sold to the SoftBank Group in late 2018.[2][8]

Key Information

History

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1994–2017: Yahoo! Inc.

[edit]
Main article: Yahoo! Inc. (1995–2017)

In January 1994, Jerry Yang and David Filo, who were Electrical Engineering graduate students, created a website called "Jerry and David's Guide to the World Wide Web". The Guide was a directory of other websites, organized in a hierarchy, as opposed to a searchable index of pages. In April 1994, Jerry and David's Guide to the World Wide Web was renamed "Yahoo!".[9][10] The word "YAHOO" is a backronym for "Yet Another Hierarchically Organized Oracle"[11] or "Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle."[12] The yahoo.com domain was created on January 18, 1995.[13]

Yahoo! grew rapidly throughout the 1990s and diversified into a web portal, followed by numerous high-profile acquisitions. The company's stock price skyrocketed during the dot-com bubble and closed at an all-time high of US$118.75 in 2000;[14] however, after the dot-com bubble burst, it reached an all-time low of US$8.11 in 2001.[15] Yahoo! formally rejected an acquisition bid from the Microsoft Corporation in 2008.[16] In early 2012, the largest layoff in Yahoo!'s history was completed and 2,000 employees (14 percent of the workforce) lost their jobs.[17]

Carol Bartz replaced co-founder Jerry Yang as CEO in January 2009,[18] but was fired by the board of directors in September 2011; Tim Morse was appointed as interim CEO following Bartz's departure.[19] Former PayPal president Scott Thompson became CEO in January 2012 and after he resigned was replaced by Ross Levinsohn as the company's interim CEO on May 13, 2012. On July 16, former Google executive Marissa Mayer, became the CEO of the company.[20]

The media reported on Yahoo!'s interest in the video streaming site Hulu on May 26, 2013. Under Mayer's leadership, Yahoo!'s bid is worth between US$600 and $800 million, as a variety of options that consist of different circumstances were put forward by the company.[21] As of May 28, 2013, Yahoo!'s videos attract 45 million unique visitors a month, while Hulu has 24 million visitors—the combination of the two audiences can place Yahoo! in the second-most popular position after Google and its subsidiary YouTube.[22]

Data collated by comScore during July 2013 revealed that more people in the U.S. visited Yahoo! websites during the month in comparison to Google websites—the occasion was the first time that Yahoo! outperformed Google since 2011. The data did not incorporate visit statistics for the Yahoo!-owned Tumblr website or mobile phone usage.[23]

On September 22, 2016, Yahoo disclosed a data breach in which hackers stole information associated with at least 500 million user accounts in late 2014.[24] According to the BBC, this was the largest technical breach reported to date.[25] Specific details of material taken include names, email addresses, telephone numbers, encrypted or unencrypted security questions and answers, dates of birth, and encrypted passwords.[26] The breach used manufactured web cookies to falsify login credentials, allowing hackers to gain access to any account without a password.[27][28][29] On December 14, 2016 a separate data breach, occurring earlier around August 2013 was reported. This breach affected over 1 billion user accounts and is again considered the largest discovered in the history of the Internet.[30]

On June 13, 2017, following the departure of Marissa Mayer, Thomas J. McInerney was appointed chairman and CEO of Yahoo! Inc.[31]

2017–2019: Altaba Inc.

[edit]

On June 16, 2017, the company that remained after Verizon Communications purchased the core Internet businesses of Yahoo! Inc. was renamed Altaba Inc. The new company, listed by the Securities and Exchange Commission as a "non-diversified, closed-end management investment company,"[7][32] immediately began trading on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol AABA.[33]

In September 2018, Altaba settled three lawsuits relating to Yahoo's data breaches for $47 million.[34]

On September 17, 2018, Altaba announced the sale of their stake in Yahoo Japan Corporation for $4.3 billion.[35] On the same day, Altaba announced a $5.75 billion share repurchase program.[36]

On April 3, 2019, Altaba announced in a press release that it would sell its stake in Alibaba Group and shut down.[37] The company would shut down in the fourth quarter of 2019.[38]

On October 2, 2019, Altaba stopped trading on the Nasdaq at the close of the day,[39] and pursuant to its Plan of Complete Liquidation and Dissolution, filed a certificate of dissolution in Delaware (where Altaba is domiciled), on October 4.[40] A small amount of funds will be withheld for potential Chinese taxes on the sale of its stake in the Alibaba Group.[41] In 2020, the company sold the Excalibur IP patent portfolio to RPX Corporation.[42]

Assets

[edit]

Excalibur IP, a patent company owned by Altaba, controlled a significant minority interest in Alibaba Group (16.3%) until it sold its stake in 2019,[43] and maintained investments in Hortonworks, Gomaji, Envestnet, Rimage Corporation, SeatGeek, Protagenic Therapeutics, Eastman Kodak Company, and Paperless Post.[44] The Fund's external investment advisors included BlackRock Advisors, LLC and Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC.

The company divested itself of all holdings in Snap Inc. (the owner of Snapchat)[45] and Yahoo! Japan.[46]

References

[edit]
[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Altaba

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Altaba Inc. was a non-diversified, closed-end management investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, based in New York City, that originated from the remnants of Yahoo! Inc. following the completion of Verizon Communications Inc.'s acquisition of Yahoo's core operating business on June 13, 2017, for $4.4758 billion in cash. Renamed Altaba Inc. effective June 16, 2017, the entity retained key assets including an approximately 15% equity stake in Alibaba Group Holding Limited, an approximately 36% equity stake in Yahoo Japan Corporation, cash and marketable securities totaling around $4.3 billion at the time of the transaction, and certain intellectual property through Excalibur IP, LLC. The name "Altaba" was derived as a portmanteau of "alternative" and "Alibaba" to reflect its investment focus. Trading under the ticker symbol AABA on Nasdaq starting June 19, 2017, Altaba managed these holdings until its board approved a plan of complete liquidation on April 2, 2019, which shareholders ratified on June 27, 2019, leading to the filing of a certificate of dissolution and delisting from Nasdaq on October 4, 2019. Following the liquidation approval, Altaba sold its major stakes, including its Alibaba shares between June and September 2019 for proceeds between $39.8 billion and $40.9 billion, and its Yahoo Japan stake in 2018, converting much of its portfolio to cash and short-term investments while addressing liabilities such as shareholder litigation and settlements related to Yahoo's pre-acquisition incidents. The company has made multiple liquidating distributions to shareholders since October 2020, totaling over $20 per share by mid-2025, with the latest announcement on May 6, 2025, approving a $0.20 per share distribution payable on May 19, 2025, amid ongoing resolution of tax uncertainties and court-supervised wind-down proceedings in the . As of its unaudited consolidated statement of assets and liabilities filed on November 10, 2025, covering the period ended September 30, 2025, Altaba continued to hold net assets of $831.8 million (NAV per share of $1.60) primarily in cash and equivalents, with the process expected to conclude after final distributions and deregistration as an .

History

Pre-Altaba: Yahoo! Inc. (1994–2017)

Yahoo! Inc. was founded in January 1994 by Stanford University graduate students Jerry Yang and David Filo as "Jerry and David's Guide to the World Wide Web," a directory of websites. In March 1994, the project was renamed Yahoo!, an acronym for "Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle," though the founders later described it as reflecting their self-perception as yahoos from Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels. The company was formally incorporated on March 2, 1995, and quickly evolved into a leading web portal, providing services such as web search, email, news aggregation, and online directories that attracted millions of users during the mid-1990s internet expansion. By the height of the dot-com boom in early 2000, Yahoo! had become one of the internet's most valuable companies, achieving a peak market capitalization of approximately $125 billion. Yahoo!'s growth was fueled by strategic acquisitions that expanded its content and user base, including the $3.6 billion purchase of in 1999, a that enabled users to create personal websites and communities. In 2013, under CEO , the company acquired for $1.1 billion to bolster its appeal to younger audiences through social blogging features. A pivotal strategic decision came in 2008, when Yahoo! rejected a $44.6 billion unsolicited acquisition offer from , arguing that it undervalued the company's potential in search and markets. The company faced significant challenges starting with the dot-com bust, during which its stock price plummeted to a low of $8.11 per share on September 26, 2001, reflecting broader market contraction and overvaluation in the tech sector. Further setbacks occurred with massive data breaches: in 2013, hackers accessed data from all three billion user accounts, including names, emails, and security questions, while a 2014 incident compromised over 500 million accounts with similar personal information. These security failures eroded user trust and contributed to a discounted sale of Yahoo!'s core internet assets to Verizon Communications for $4.48 billion, announced in July 2016 after an initial $4.8 billion agreement was reduced due to the breaches, with the deal closing on June 13, 2017. Following the transaction, Yahoo! retained non-core assets, notably its approximately 15% stake in Holding Limited, which became the primary holding of the restructured entity.

Formation and Early Operations as Altaba (2017–2019)

Following the sale of Yahoo!'s core internet business to Verizon Communications in June 2017, the remaining entity restructured as a , changing its name from Yahoo! Inc. to Altaba Inc. on June 16, 2017. This renaming reflected Altaba's new focus on managing non-core assets inherited from the Yahoo era, including its primary holding of approximately 15% of Holding Limited. As part of the transition, Altaba relocated its headquarters to and appointed Thomas J. McInerney as CEO and chairman of the board, effective June 13, 2017, leveraging his prior experience as a director since 2012. Altaba's early operations centered on overseeing its portfolio of retained investments, with the Alibaba stake—comprising about 384 million shares—valued at roughly $48 billion as of early June 2017 based on Alibaba's market price. The company managed these assets conservatively, conducting tender offers to repurchase shares from investors in exchange for Alibaba shares or cash equivalents while minimizing tax liabilities. In September 2018, Altaba completed the sale of its remaining stake in Yahoo Japan Corporation to SoftBank Corp. for approximately $4.3 billion in cash, eliminating its exposure to that asset and allowing for greater focus on the Alibaba position. During this period, Altaba also addressed legacy liabilities from Yahoo's data breaches. In April 2018, it agreed to pay a $35 million to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to settle charges of misleading investors by failing to disclose a breach affecting over 500 million user accounts. Separately, in September 2018, Altaba settled three consumer class-action lawsuits related to the breaches for a total of $47 million, covering claims from affected users in the U.S. and . By early 2019, Altaba shifted toward winding down operations. On April 2, 2019, its board approved a plan of complete and dissolution, announced publicly the next day, which included selling the remaining Alibaba stake to maximize returns. As an initial step, Altaba began divesting Alibaba shares in April 2019, including sales totaling around $3.7 billion from approximately 9.6 million shares during the month, with further transactions following pending stockholder approval in June.

Liquidation Process and Ongoing Wind-Down (2019–present)

On June 27, 2019, Altaba's stockholders approved the Plan of Complete and Dissolution, authorizing the company to wind down its operations and distribute its assets to shareholders. Following this approval, Altaba filed its Certificate of Dissolution with the on October 4, 2019, formally initiating the dissolution process under court supervision pursuant to Sections 280 and 281(a) of the . As part of the wind-down, trading in Altaba's shares was halted on the at the close of business on October 2, 2019, and the shares were subsequently delisted. A key early milestone in the liquidation was the monetization of major assets inherited from the prior Yahoo! Inc. operations. By the end of 2019, Altaba had sold approximately 278 million shares of its Holding Limited stake, generating net proceeds of about $46 billion, with the remaining shares sold in early 2020 for additional proceeds of roughly $1.1 billion, completing the divestiture. In 2020, another significant disposal occurred with the sale of the IP patent portfolio, a holding various assets, to RPX Corporation through a licensing and monetization transaction that provided further liquidity for distributions. Subsequent years involved ongoing disposals of minor investments and residual assets, including small holdings in private companies and other securities, to maximize value during the extended wind-down. The has been prolonged beyond the initial timeline due to several factors, including ongoing IRS tax audits related to prior years' transactions and the need to resolve potential claims. For instance, audits of Altaba's 2018 tax year transferred to IRS Appeals in June 2024, contributing to delays in finalizing liabilities. Additionally, security deposits held to cover potential tax obligations—known as the Agreed Security Amount—have been subject to periodic reviews; during the fourth quarter of 2024 and the first quarter of 2025, the IRS approved reductions totaling more than $1 billion, allowing for increased distributions while maintaining reserves for unresolved matters. Final claim resolutions under the court-supervised continue to extend the timeline, ensuring all and shareholder interests are addressed before complete dissolution. As of November 2025, the wind-down remains active. Altaba filed its semi-annual report on August 13, 2025, covering the period ended June 30, 2025, which reported net income primarily from approximately $352 million in unrealized appreciation on remaining investments. On May 6, 2025, the board announced a liquidating distribution of $0.20 per share, payable on May 19, 2025, to eligible shareholders, reflecting continued efforts to return capital amid the ongoing process. On October 17, 2025, the granted Altaba's motion to continue its corporate existence, and on November 10, 2025, Altaba filed an 8-K with unaudited consolidated as of September 30, 2025, showing net assets primarily in cash and equivalents. These steps underscore the methodical approach to , prioritizing compliance and asset realization over rapid closure.

Corporate Structure and Governance

Leadership and Key Personnel

Thomas J. McInerney was appointed as President and Chief Executive Officer of Altaba Inc. on June 13, 2017, following the completion of Verizon's acquisition of Yahoo's core internet business, and he served in that role until December 31, 2021. McInerney, who had joined the Yahoo board in April 2012, oversaw the company's transition into an investment fund focused on its Alibaba stake and managed the subsequent liquidation process, including asset sales and shareholder distributions. His background includes serving as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of IAC/InterActiveCorp from January 2005 to March 2012, where he handled financial strategy for the internet conglomerate. Following his departure as CEO, McInerney became Chairman of the Board effective January 2022. Alexi A. Wellman succeeded McInerney as President, , and effective January 1, 2022, and also joined the board as a director. Wellman had previously served as and Global Controller at Yahoo from 2015 until the sale to Verizon, and as at Nebraska Book Company from 2011 to 2013. As of the semi-annual report for the period ended June 30, 2025, she continues in these roles overseeing the wind-down. Upon Altaba's formation in June 2017, following resignations at the closing of the Verizon transaction—including that of Jeffrey A. Smith—the board consisted of four independent directors: Eric K. Brandt, Tor R. Braham, Catherine J. Friedman, and Thomas J. McInerney. Eric K. Brandt, a former executive at chipmaker Broadcom, served as the initial Chairman from June 2017 to December 2021 and later as Lead Independent Director effective January 2022, providing oversight on strategic matters. Tor R. Braham, with prior experience as Managing Director and Global Head of Technology Mergers and Acquisitions at Deutsche Bank, contributed investment acumen until his resignation effective December 31, 2021. Catherine J. Friedman, a finance veteran from roles at Goldman Sachs and Providence Equity Partners, offered expertise in private equity and asset management. In August 2017, the board appointed Richard L. Kauffman, former CEO of Kauffman & Associates Investments, as an additional independent director, bringing the board size to five to bolster investment decision-making. Governance evolved during the liquidation phase, with the board maintaining a size of five members as of the semi-annual report ended June 30, 2025: Thomas J. McInerney (Chairman), Eric K. Brandt (Lead Independent Director), Catherine J. Friedman, Richard L. Kauffman, and Alexi A. Wellman. Key changes included Braham's resignation in December 2021 and Wellman's addition in January 2022. The board unanimously approved the Plan of Complete Liquidation and Dissolution on April 2, 2019, which stockholders ratified in June 2019, enabling the sale of remaining assets and a series of distributions, including a $0.20 per share payout announced on May 6, 2025. McInerney, Wellman, and the board directed these efforts, prioritizing tax compliance and creditor resolutions amid the ongoing wind-down. Following the sale of its core operating business to Verizon Communications Inc. in June 2017, Altaba Inc. restructured as a non-diversified, closed-end management registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940. This registration with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) subjected Altaba to specific oversight and disclosure requirements applicable to investment companies, including annual and semi-annual reports to maintain transparency for shareholders regarding its holdings, primarily the stake. Post-2017, Altaba's regulatory obligations evolved with its transition to a pure investment vehicle and subsequent delisting from the on October 4, 2019. While exempt from certain periodic reporting under the after delisting—such as Forms 10-K and 10-Q—Altaba continued to comply with Act mandates, filing forms like N-CSR and N-CSRS to provide ongoing details on its process and for transparency. The liquidation plan, approved by shareholders in 2019, marked a key regulatory milestone in this wind-down phase. Altaba maintained its headquarters in at 140 East 45th Street, while incorporated as a , which governed its dissolution under state law. During the wind-down, Altaba adhered to Sections 280 and 281(a) of the , initiating court-supervised proceedings in May 2020 to ensure orderly asset distribution and shareholder protections, including provisions for creditor claims and reserves. For tax compliance, Altaba engaged with the (IRS) on the treatment of liquidating distributions, securing approvals for reductions in agreed security amounts to facilitate tax-efficient payouts without corporate-level taxation on qualifying distributions.

Investments and Assets

Altaba's primary asset was its stake in Alibaba Group Holding Limited, which originated from Yahoo!'s strategic investment of $1 billion in August 2005 to acquire a 40% ownership interest in the Chinese e-commerce company. Over the subsequent years, this stake underwent dilution due to additional capital raises by Alibaba and partial repurchases, including a 2012 transaction where Alibaba bought back half of Yahoo's holding for $7.1 billion. By the time of Alibaba's September 2014 initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange, Yahoo's pre-IPO ownership stood at approximately 22.6%, with the company selling a portion representing about 6.5% of Alibaba during the offering, leaving a post-IPO stake of roughly 16.3%. When Altaba was formed in June 2017 following Verizon's acquisition of Yahoo's core business, the Alibaba stake had further diluted to approximately 15%, comprising around 384 million American Depositary Shares (ADSs) valued at over $51 billion based on Alibaba's at the time. This accounted for the vast majority of Altaba's portfolio, exceeding 90% of its total assets at formation and underscoring its role as a non-operating holding vehicle. Altaba maintained the Alibaba position as a passive , exerting no influence over Alibaba's day-to-day operations or strategic decisions, in line with its status as a closed-end focused on long-term value preservation. In furtherance of its plan of complete approved by shareholders in June 2019, Altaba initiated the sale of its Alibaba holdings on May 20, 2019, through a combination of open-market transactions and private placements to institutional investors. By June 26, 2019, the company had divested approximately 126.4 million ADSs, representing about 45% of its then-remaining stake. Sales continued throughout 2019, with Altaba disposing of a total of 278,315,416 ADSs that year for gross proceeds of approximately $46 billion. The remaining shares, numbering around 5 million, were sold in January 2020 for additional proceeds of roughly $1.1 billion at an average price of $225.72 per ADS. The original tax basis of the Alibaba was approximately $265 million, as reflected in Altaba's financial reporting. The proceeds from these sales, net of substantial U.S. liabilities including global intangible low-taxed (GILTI) inclusions, primarily funded Altaba's initial liquidating distributions to shareholders beginning in late , with the Alibaba stake having represented over 90% of the company's peak asset value prior to divestiture.

Other Investments and Divestitures

Altaba held several minor investments inherited from Yahoo! Inc., including stakes in emerging and software companies, as well as assets outside its primary Alibaba position. One significant holding was IP, LLC, a managing Yahoo!'s portfolio comprising over 3,000 patents and applications related to , and online services; this portfolio was monetized through licensing and enforcement prior to its sale. In February 2020, Altaba sold the IP portfolio to RPX Corporation via a licensing transaction that granted rights to a of RPX members across sectors, with the sale amount undisclosed. Among its equity stakes, Altaba owned shares in Hortonworks, Inc., a data software firm co-founded by Yahoo! in 2011 with an initial investment to advance Apache Hadoop technology; this holding was divested prior to the full liquidation process, likely through Hortonworks' acquisition by Cloudera, Inc., in January 2019. Altaba also maintained a position in SeatGeek, Inc., a ticketing platform, valued at a nominal portion of its portfolio (less than 0.1%) as of mid-2019, which remained in holdings through the wind-down phase. Additionally, in September 2017, shortly after its formation, Altaba partially sold its stake in Snap Inc., realizing approximately $69.3 million from 4.6 million shares at an average price of $15 per share. Key divestitures included the complete sale of Altaba's stake in Yahoo Japan Corporation to in 2018, executed in two tranches totaling $4.3 billion: an initial $2 billion purchase of 613.9 million shares in July, followed by the remaining shares via in September. Post-2019, as part of the court-supervised wind-down under the Plan of Complete Liquidation and Dissolution approved in June 2019, Altaba liquidated remaining minor assets such as cash equivalents, marketable securities, and residual equity positions on a piecemeal basis to facilitate orderly distributions. The strategy emphasized monetizing non-strategic and investments to maximize net proceeds for shareholders while minimizing liabilities and litigation risks, with timed to optimize market conditions and regulatory approvals. By June 30, 2025, Altaba's residual assets consisted primarily of cash from these and holdbacks for contingent liabilities, with a reported basis cost of $265,618 and minimal unrealized appreciation of $352.

Financial Performance

Revenue, Expenses, and Key Metrics

Altaba's revenue primarily derived from realized gains on the sale of its investment portfolio, with the most significant contribution coming from the divestiture of its Holding Limited shares. Between 2018 and 2020, Altaba sold a total of approximately 278 million Alibaba shares, generating net proceeds of about $46 billion, which formed the bulk of its investment income during the liquidation phase. In addition to these capital gains, revenue included modest and income from remaining holdings, such as $7.0 million in the six months ended June 30, 2025, comprising $6.8 million in and $0.2 million in dividends. Expenses for Altaba were relatively low following its transition to an holding company in 2017, reflecting minimal operational activities focused on and wind-down. Annual total expenses averaged under $10 million in recent years, including management fees, , and general administrative costs; for the year ended December 31, 2024, these totaled $7.8 million, broken down as $3.4 million in compensation for directors, officers, and employees, $2.2 million in , $1.0 million in general and administrative costs, $0.2 million in outside administrative fees, and $0.9 million in other expenses. Notable one-time costs included legal settlements related to pre-Altaba data breaches, such as a $35 million penalty paid to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in 2018 for inadequate disclosures. Additionally, Altaba maintained IRS security deposits to cover potential liabilities from its sales, peaking at $1.5 billion in 2020 before reductions totaling $235 million approved by the IRS in late 2024 and early 2025. Key financial metrics illustrate Altaba's progression through liquidation. The net asset value (NAV) per share declined from $75.75 at December 31, 2017, to $1.58 as of June 30, 2025, and $1.60 as of September 30, 2025, primarily due to asset realizations and associated tax provisions. For the six months ended June 30, 2025, Altaba reported net investment income of $10.9 million after expenses of $4.4 million, alongside an unrealized appreciation in investments of $352,000, as detailed in its SEC filings which also include tax basis calculations showing a carrying cost of $266 million for holdings. As of September 30, 2025, unrealized appreciation was $615,000 with a tax basis cost of $277 million. These metrics, reported quarterly and annually via Form N-CSR and N-CSRS, underscore the company's focus on preserving value amid ongoing wind-down efforts.
PeriodTotal Expenses ($ millions)Net Investment Income ($ millions)NAV per Share ($)
Year ended Dec 31, 20247.832.4 (investment income before expenses)1.76
Six months ended Jun 30, 20254.410.91.58

Shareholder Distributions and Returns

Altaba's liquidation process involved a series of pro-rata cash distributions to shareholders, funded primarily by proceeds from the sale of its Alibaba stake and other investments, as outlined in its Plan of Complete Liquidation and Dissolution approved in June 2019. The initial pre-dissolution distribution occurred on September 23, 2019, amounting to $51.50 per share, representing approximately $26.8 billion in aggregate and largely derived from the monetization of Altaba's Alibaba holdings. This payout significantly reduced the company's per share, causing the stock price to adjust downward from pre-distribution levels around $70 to approximately $19.63 at delisting from in October 2019. Post-dissolution distributions commenced in late 2020 and continued through 2025, with payments released as assets were liquidated and regulatory hurdles cleared. These included an $8.33 per share distribution on November 2, 2020 ($4.33 billion aggregate), and a $7.48 per share payout on August 5, 2021 ($3.89 billion aggregate), among others, reflecting ongoing sales of remaining investments such as Yahoo Japan and stakes. By mid-2025, cumulative post-dissolution distributions totaled approximately $22.38 per share, or over $11.6 billion in aggregate, providing shareholders with substantial returns amid the wind-down. Further releases were enabled by periodic reductions in the security amount pledged to the IRS for potential tax liabilities, allowing excess funds to be distributed without risking insufficient reserves for claims. For instance, IRS approvals in the fourth quarter of 2024 and first quarter of 2025 reduced the required security by amounts that facilitated the final announced payout of $0.20 per share on May 19, 2025 ($103.9 million aggregate). Overall, combining pre- and post-dissolution payouts, shareholders received approximately $73.88 per share, far exceeding the stock's trading range from about $52.58 at the 2017 renaming to its delisting price of $19.63. The distributions followed a structured pro-rata approach under the plan, prioritizing secured creditors and reserves before returning capital to common shareholders, with the process designed to conclude after resolution of all outstanding claims, including IRS audits projected to extend beyond 2025. As of November 2025, no additional distributions had been announced, but the board retains authority to make further payouts as liabilities are finalized.
Announcement DatePer Share AmountAggregate Amount (USD)Payment Date
September 5, 2019$51.50~26.8 billionSeptember 23, 2019
October 23, 2020$8.334.33 billionNovember 2, 2020
July 23, 2021$7.483.89 billionAugust 5, 2021
August 19, 2021$0.540.28 billionSeptember 1, 2021
December 20, 2021$0.670.35 billionDecember 30, 2021
March 7, 2022$0.240.12 billionMarch 15, 2022
May 27, 2022$0.750.39 billionJune 7, 2022
July 20, 2022$1.430.74 billionJuly 29, 2022
January 5, 2023$0.680.35 billionJanuary 13, 2023
February 9, 2023$0.960.50 billionFebruary 17, 2023
July 31, 2024$1.100.57 billionAugust 13, 2024
May 6, 2025$0.200.10 billionMay 19, 2025

Data Breaches and Associated Litigation

Altaba, as the successor entity to Yahoo following its acquisition by Verizon, inherited significant liabilities from two major data breaches that occurred during Yahoo's operations in 2013 and 2014. These incidents, which were publicly disclosed in 2016, exposed sensitive user information and triggered extensive litigation. The 2013 breach compromised the data of approximately 1 billion user accounts, including names, addresses, phone numbers, birthdates, hashed passwords, and security questions. In a separate 2014 incident, hackers accessed the personal details of around 500 million accounts, stealing usernames, emails, passwords, and security questions. Both breaches were attributed to state-sponsored actors and went undetected for years, with Yahoo becoming aware of the 2014 intrusion in late 2014 but not fully disclosing its scope until 2016. The revelations of these breaches led to multiple class-action lawsuits filed in U.S. federal courts, primarily alleging that Yahoo failed to implement adequate security measures and misled investors and users about the risks. These suits were consolidated under In re Yahoo! Inc. Customer Data Security Breach Litigation in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The breaches also directly impacted Yahoo's sale to Verizon, which initially agreed to a $4.83 billion acquisition in July 2016 but reduced the price by $350 million to $4.48 billion after the disclosures came to light in late 2016. This adjustment reflected the diminished value of Yahoo's assets due to the cybersecurity liabilities. In response to regulatory scrutiny, Altaba agreed in April 2018 to a $35 million civil penalty with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to settle charges that Yahoo had violated antifraud provisions by failing to disclose the 2014 breach in its public filings, thereby misleading investors about material cybersecurity risks. This marked the SEC's first enforcement action specifically targeting inadequate disclosure of a cyber incident. Separately, in September 2018, Altaba reached a $47 million settlement to resolve three shareholder derivative lawsuits related to the breaches, covering claims of breaches of fiduciary duty by Yahoo's leadership; this amount was fully funded by Altaba, though Verizon shared some related costs in a combined total approximating $47.5 million across intertwined proceedings. Further litigation culminated in a revised class-action settlement approved in October 2020, under which Verizon and Altaba agreed to pay $117.5 million to compensate affected users for losses such as identity theft and credit monitoring expenses. Altaba was contractually obligated to indemnify Verizon for 50% of this amount, leading to reserves of up to $400 million set aside by Altaba to cover its share and potential appeals. The breaches also gave rise to Canadian class action proceedings in Larocque v. Yahoo Canada Co. and related cases, alleging similar failures in data protection. In October 2020, the Delaware Court of Chancery ordered Altaba to reserve $800 million in security for these claims on an interim basis; this was later reduced, with a final order issued on January 20, 2023, determining the security amount for the Larocque action. Although no new data breaches were reported after 2017, these legacy liabilities from the Yahoo-era incidents prolonged Altaba's liquidation process, requiring ongoing reserves and court approvals, with the wind-down still supervised by the Delaware Court of Chancery as of late 2025.

Tax Issues and IRS Interactions

During its liquidation process, Altaba faced significant tax challenges stemming from an IRS of its federal income tax returns for the years 2015 through 2017. The audit primarily contested the valuation of Altaba's investment in Holding Limited and the allowability of foreign tax credits claimed in connection with taxes paid by Alibaba and Yahoo Japan Corporation on their earnings. The IRS disallowed approximately $570.8 million in foreign tax credits, leading to proposed additional tax assessments and penalties for those years. In June 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice, on behalf of the IRS, filed a civil in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California to collect unpaid federal taxes, seeking a of approximately $1.5 billion, including and penalties related to the findings. Altaba disputed the assessments, arguing that the IRS calculations overstated liabilities by ignoring available foreign credits and misapplying rules to the Alibaba stake's basis. To facilitate ongoing liquidation distributions while resolving the dispute, Altaba entered into an agreement with the IRS in August 2020, under which it retained $1.76 billion in a separate custody account as security (the "Agreed Security Amount") against potential claims for the audited years. This deposit was made pursuant to Section 6603 and subsequent joint motions approved by the overseeing Altaba's . Progressive reductions to the followed favorable developments in the and related proceedings. In 2021, Altaba deposited an additional $731 million with the IRS under Section 6603 to cover proposed liabilities for 2018 and 2019 tax years, which were also under examination for similar issues involving foreign credits and . By the second quarter of 2024, the IRS approved a return of $88 million from the deposit, reflecting resolved portions of the 2018 and 2019 claims where the excess security exceeded assessed amounts. Further reductions totaling several hundred million dollars occurred during the fourth quarter of 2024 and the first quarter of 2025, based on IRS approvals tied to closures and lowered liability estimates; these releases supported liquidating distributions exceeding $1 billion in aggregate value during 2025. As of August 2025, audits for 2021 and 2022 closed without adjustments, while 2015-2019 audits remained open or in settlement discussions (including for 2018), with earlier years (2016-2017) closed without material adjustments. Altaba obtained IRS private letter rulings confirming that certain liquidating distributions qualified as tax-free returns of capital to shareholders under Section 301(c)(2), provided the distributions did not exceed the shareholders' adjusted basis in their shares. These rulings, issued in connection with the approved plan, alleviated concerns over immediate taxable gain recognition on distributions and enabled phased payouts without triggering corporate-level taxes on the underlying assets, including remnants of the Alibaba holdings. The final resolution of the overall audit remained pending as of Altaba's 2025 SEC filings, with estimated total tax liabilities, including penalties and interest, projected to fall under $500 million after accounting for credits and settlements as of mid-2025. This outcome facilitated the release of additional funds for shareholder distributions, culminating in the plan's near-completion by late 2025.

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