Mike Snider

USA TODAY

Verizon and Yahoo have agreed to reduce the price the telecommunications giant will pay to acquire the online media company by $350 million.

In July 2016, Verizon agreed to pay $4.8 billion for Yahoo's Internet business, which includes Yahoo Mail, Flickr, Tumblr and Web properties such as Yahoo Finance and Yahoo Sports.

Then, in the wake of the deal's announcement, Yahoo disclosed that it had suffered two massive data breaches, one in 2013 and another in 2014, the first one believed to be the largest reported data breach ever, involving the theft of data associated with more than one billion user accounts in August 2013.

Under the deal's amended terms, Verizon will pay $4.48 billion and the two companies will share some legal and regulatory liabilities arising from the breaches.

After the breaches, Wall Street had some concern over the ultimate consummation of the deal. Last week, Yahoo shares rose 2% on a report that the two companies had renegotiated a new price that was $250 million below the original offer.

Yahoo (YHOO) shares were up 0.4% in premarket trading Tuesday to $45.30. Verizon (VZ) shares were up 0.6% to $49.48.

Verizon aims to expand and improve its own mobile and online video efforts with Yahoo's advertising platforms and grow its audiences through Yahoo's 1 billion monthly users.

"We have always believed this acquisition makes strategic sense," said Marni Walden, Verizon's executive vice president and president of product innovation and new businesses. "We look forward to moving ahead expeditiously so that we can quickly welcome Yahoo's tremendous talent and assets into our expanding portfolio in the digital advertising space."

The amended agreement, she said, "delivers a clear path to close the transaction in the second quarter."

Under the new terms, Yahoo will be fully responsible or any cash liabilities incurred following the deal's closing arising from shareholder lawsuits and Securities and Exchange Commission investigations related to the breaches. Yahoo will be responsible for 50% of any liabilities related to any third-party litigation and non-SEC government investigations related to the breaches.

The SEC has opened an investigation into whether Yahoo should have informed investors about the breaches sooner, according to a January report in The Wall Street Journal.

This amended deal appears to be a win for Yahoo, which has struggled over the last decade as Facebook and Google achieved dominance in the digital advertising space.

"We continue to be very excited to join forces with Verizon and AOL," said Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer in a statement. Mayer, brought in to run Yahoo in 2012, who pushed the company to emphasize mobile, video and social projects, has been unable to turnaround the company's fortunes.

Upon selling the company's Internet business, Yahoo will place its ownership stakes in Chinese Internet giant Alibaba in a company called Altaba. That 15% stake in Alibaba is worth about $35 billion. Also part of Altaba will be Yahoo's more than one-third (35.5%) stake in Yahoo Japan.

"This transaction will accelerate Yahoo's operating business especially on mobile, while effectively separating our Asian asset equity stakes," Mayer said. "It is an important step to unlock shareholder value for Yahoo, and we can now move forward with confidence and certainty."

SunTrust Robinson Humphrey analyst Kunal Madhukar called the price adjustment "modest in our view, amounting to only about $0.35 per share before tax," he said in a note to investors Tuesday. "The next step could be Yahoo filing a revised proxy statement that includes the amended purchase terms and potentially, a date for the shareholder vote."

Follow USA TODAY reporter Mike Snider on Twitter: @MikeSnider.