Yahoo is in the process of finalizing its sale to Verizon. However, the recent news that it was hacked in 2014 and subsequent reports about the technology company snooping on its users' emails are going to cost Yahoo a lot. It is reported that Verizon is now looking for a $1 billion discount on the purchase price. The original deal was priced at $4.8 billion.

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Last month, Yahoo-owned up the fact that its servers were breached in 2014. The security lapse is likely to have affected more than 500 million users. It is believed that sensitive information including names, birth dates, and email addresses was stolen. Apart from these, encrypted passwords and encrypted as well as decrypted answers to security questions are also believed to have been compromised. Yahoo deflected the blame by proclaiming it to be a state-sponsored attack. However, no such evidence has been found so far.

According to Tech Crunch, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer may have known about the breach in July. At that time, the negotiation with Verizon had already kicked off. If that is indeed the case, Verizon has a strong case to seek a discount on the previously negotiated price of the Yahoo brand.

Apart from the security breach, Yahoo has come under fire for allegedly scanning the emails of its users on behalf of US intelligence agencies. The company failed to disclose this move in its biannual transparency report. Yahoo has not denied that it snooped on its users for the US government. However, it has described the reports to be "misleading."