【The Exotic Time Machine (1998)】

You don't see corporate statements like this every day.

On Thursday,The Exotic Time Machine (1998) Yahoo admitted that a data breach in 2014 ended up with the theft of far more user data than had been previously thought. By Yahoo's count, some 500 million user accounts had at least some information stolen.

That's news to Verizon, the company that acquired Yahoo's core business in July for $4.83 billion but has not yet finalized the acquisition.

When reached for comment, Verizon released a pretty stunning statement, claiming it had not been aware of the breach until very recently.

Within the last two days, we were notified of Yahoo's security incident.  We understand that Yahoo is conducting an active investigation of this matter, but we otherwise have limited information and understanding of the impact.  We will evaluate as the investigation continues through the lens of overall Verizon interests, including consumers, customers, shareholders and related communities. Until then, we are not in position to further comment.

Corporate statements tend to be very dry and say as little as possible. This is not one of those statements.

Among the surprising details, Verizon is claiming that Yahoo only provided notification of the breach in the last two days. TWO DAYS. Yahoo has had a deal with Verizon for an acquisition for two months.

Next, Verizon said that even now, the company doesn't really know what's going on. I'm sure it knows more than we do at this point, but you'd imagine that with almost $5 billion on the line, there would be a healthy amount of transparency.

Lastly, Verizon is making it clear — it's going to look at this situation and figure out what's best for the company and its shareholders. Shareholders is the key point here. If Verizon determines that the damage done to Yahoo by this breach (and how the company has handled it) means it overpaid for Yahoo, it could consider backing out of the deal.

Acquisition agreements almost always have various clauses about being able to back out of deals for certain extenuating circumstances — for instance if a regulator blocks the deal.

Yahoo has not responded to a request for comment, and Verizon isn't saying anything beyond the already strong statement it put out.

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There's a decent chance, however, that Verizon could be looking to get out of its deal. Kara Swisher at Recode, who is arguably the most well-sourced reporter on Yahoo, has said the announcement has "huge implications" for the Verizon deal.

It's worth pointing out that the deal is not yet done. Verizon and Yahoo have an agreement for an acquisition. There is then a time period in which regulators analyze the transaction, lawyers work out some of the details, accountants run the books and strategists figure out how to combine the two companies.

Think of it like a marriage. Verizon and Yahoo are engaged. But the wedding could still be called off.