Seven West Media has sold its stake in Yahoo7 to communications and tech giant Verizon for $21 million and says its rebranded online news sites are already outstripping performances under the former joint venture.
Seven, which will receive $20.75 million in cash for its Yahoo7 shares this financial year, said it now fully owns and operates all of its 'direct to consumer' digital products, including the 7NEWS.com.au platform launched last week.
Shares in the company were trading 6.7 per cent higher at 51.75 cents at 1200 AEST, still less than half the value of the $1.10 two-year high reached in August.
Seven West chief executive Tim Worner said the company exercised a put option, pivoting Seven West to meet advertisers' demand for "holistic, integrated, cross-screen media solutions".
Mr Worner said gaining 100 per cent control of the company's digital brands had already begun to reap benefits.
"We launched 7NEWS.com.au one week ago ... It is already reaching larger daily online news audiences than when inside Yahoo7," he said in a release to the ASX on Wednesday.
"Similarly, Pacific and thewest.com.au are reaching record daily audiences, higher than at any time in the joint venture."
Seven's share price edged lower after February's half-year report, which showed profit fell by 13.8 per cent as stringent cost-saving measures failed to offset a fall in advertising revenue.
Advertising, which accounts for the majority of the company's sales, fell 3.2 per cent to $595.2 million for the half.
