Verizon has said that much of Yahoo’s value lies in its deep relationship with its customers, and services like Yahoo Finance and Yahoo Sports engender deep loyalty among users. Similarly, AOL.com and AOL Mail still have followings.

But Oath will be a way for Verizon to present its family of digital content services to advertisers and other partners as a single entity. The company could also develop some new services under the Oath brand.

Many greeted the announcement with bewilderment, with some suggesting that Oath sounded like the name of a heavy metal band.