The markets traded lower during the midday with the Dow plunging 97 points to 18,473 as crude oil and commodities slipped. Nasdaq fell 6 points to 5,093.
Verizon will pay approximately $4.83 billion in cash to acquire the core internet business of Yahoo. The deal will merge the Yahoo assets into Verizon's AOL unit, which was purchased for $4.4 billion last year. Yahoo will retain ownership of its holdings in Alibaba and Yahoo, rename itself and become a publicly traded investment company.
AMC Entertainment sweetened its offer to acquire Carmike Cinemas. The nation's second largest movie theater chain increased its offer by 10.2% in order to entice Carmike shareholders to approve the deal that will create the nation's largest theater chain. The cash and stock deal is valued at approximately $1.2 billion.
With DVD rentals falling, Redbox parent Outerwall agreed to be taken private by Apollo Global Management. Outerwall acquired DVD rental kiosk company Redbox in 2009 and also owns Coinstar and ecoATM. The shift from DVD rentals to streaming services resulted in a 19% drop in Redbox's revenue for the first quarter.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of 5 to 3 on the NYSE and by more than 9 to 7 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 fell 9 points to 2,166. Bitcoin fell $6 to $651.
