Today the internet learned that Yahoo plans to change its name to Altaba. And it laughed—loudly.
In a security filing on Monday, Yahoo said that once its $4.8 billion purchase by Verizon Communications is complete, the company will change its name to Altaba and CEO Marissa Meyer and other directors will be stepping down.
People online and several publications quickly misconstrued the information to mean that the entire Yahoo company will drop its name. And they weren’t impressed.
However, Verizon is only buying the media giant’s core businesses, including its email service, sports verticals and some apps. The holding company’s remaining assets, including Yahoo’s multibillion-dollar stake in Chinese company Alibaba, will be branded as Altaba, which, according to The Wall Street Journal, is a combination of the words "alternative" and "Alibaba."
Amidst the confusion, people took to Twitter to jab at the new name, as if the original didn’t sound ridiculous enough. Here are the top 13 tweets that made us yahoo!
Yahoo forgot to do some multi-language research before picking new company name Altaba. https://t.co/iqcljAbDi1
— Mike Rundle (@flyosity) January 10, 2017
With its name change, the familiar Yahoo yodel will be replaced by this noise #altaba pic.twitter.com/gulR3sXfIA
— Casey Newton (@CaseyNewton) January 9, 2017
Tronc: We've done it. We've achieved the ultimate mockable name for a company. Let's see someone try to top that.
— Philip Michaels (@PhilipMichaels) January 9, 2017
Yahoo: Hold my beer.
The least successful member of the Dumbledore family, Altaba Dumbledore: #Yahoo pic.twitter.com/vwqFGaS3iQ
— not Jony Ive (@JonyIveParody) January 10, 2017
Yahoo! is changing its name to Altaba. Perfect. I can alt-tab away from the site.
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) January 10, 2017
@stillgray Altaba la vista, baby.
— Gareth Harmer (@Gazimoff) January 10, 2017
"Let's rebrand @yahoo."
— Ben Rudolph (@BenThePCGuy) January 10, 2017
"OK. Let me just switch apps..."
"Did you just hit alt+tab?"
"Yeah..."
"THAT'S IT! ALTABA!" pic.twitter.com/MxHfMhFbX1
Yahoo is changing its name to Altaba, which will hopefully throw hackers off the scent for a while.
— Mark Milian (@markmilian) January 9, 2017
After I left TribuneCo, it became Tronc. After I left HuffPo/Yahoo/Verizon/Sheinhardt Wig=>renamed Altaba. One day will Variety be Zazelbot?
— Mo Ryan (@moryan) January 10, 2017
Hey Now. I've yelped out "Yahoo!" at least once in a moment of joy; never felt the need to let loose a mighty "Altaba". https://t.co/ESyE5NWQyx
— Timothy Jones (@timbeejones) January 10, 2017
@ChrisBlundell as in Yahoo led me to malware and now I have to ALTABA out of this window to get to task manager?
— The Harrison (@TheHarrisonSF) January 10, 2017
@ShiraOvide a peek inside the branding meeting: pic.twitter.com/cNv9sslrNO
— Matt Graves (@mgrooves) January 9, 2017
All that's left of Yahoo! is Ali Baba
— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) January 9, 2017
Althatsleftsalibaba
Alteftisbaba
Altaba
