Yahoo data breach has 'material' impact on aquisition: Verizon

In this Tuesday, July 19, 2016, photo, flowers bloom in front of a Yahoo sign at the company's headquarters in Sunnyvale, Calif. AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Verizon's top lawyer says it now has reason to believe Yahoo's recently disclosed data breach has a "material" impact on Verizon's pending $4.8 billion acquisition of Yahoo. That leaves open the possibility that Verizon could seek a change in the price or other terms.

A Verizon spokesman confirmed that Craig Silliman, general counsel at Verizon, made the comments to reporters during a roundtable discussion Thursday.

Silliman didn't say whether Verizon will seek a price reduction, but added that Yahoo will have to convince Verizon if it doesn't believe the breach of at least 500 million users' email accounts had a significant impact on its business.

Earlier this week, Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam said his company was investigating but vowed Verizon wouldn't walk away from the deal.