Yahoo! will stop accepting AT&T email addresses from June 30
It appears that Yahoo! accounts after June 30 will no longer be accessible via AT&T email addresses or any email addresses belonging to its subsidiaries. Although this post-merger move has net neutrality advocates crying themselves hoarse, it is actually more of a strategic move intended at severing old ties between AT&T and Yahoo! than it's about stifling freedom of netizens. Here's all about it.
Why was it necessary?
As you are aware, Verizon has acquired Yahoo! for $4.48 billion and now it will bring it under the Oath Inc. moniker. This new entity will be handled by AOL CEO Tim Armstrong. Verizon, with this move, aims to undo a previous deal that Yahoo! made with AT&T which allowed AT&T domains to act as quasi-Yahoo accounts.
New email addresses will be needed
Both AT&T and Yahoo! made their users aware that following June 30, email addresses that have these domains - att.net, ameritech.net, bellsouth.net, flash.net, nvbell.net, pacbell.net, prodigy.net, sbcglobal.net, snet.net, swbell.net, and wans.net - will not be allowed to log in to most of the Yahoo websites including Tumblr. Users will have to update their email addresses with a different domain if they want to continue.
It is also closing down its News Digest app
Meanwhile, Yahoo!, under the Verizon Management, is also shutting down News Digest app from June 30. Yahoo News Digest condensed reports of news outlets into short, crisp articles. This app had been a winner of Apple's software Design Award and according to market research firm App Annie, it's been installed more than 9.5m times. Users have now been asked to download Yahoo Newsroom instead.
Verizon will fire 2,000 of its Oath Inc. employees
Now that the merger is done, Verizon is also expected go ahead with its plan of slashing down 15% of Oath Inc. employees formed by the combined workforce of AOL and Yahoo! The new Oath organization will house several known publications and brands like The Huffington Post, Engadget, TechCrunch, Tumblr, Flickr, Yahoo Sports and more.
