Predicting the future of such business mergers is difficult. The new Verizon Oath division won't fully start up until the merger completes, probably this summer. Maybe you will want to contribute to this Advertising Age poll:
As Verizon Makes an 'Oath,' Should It Erase the Yahoo or AOL Brands? (POLL)
The details of the email service probably aren't a big focus at Verizon, and keeping email running is just a necessary expense. They care about brands producing revenue from
advertising, advertising, advertising, and
advertising (in that order). With regards to the Yahoo and AOL email systems, there are several levels of merger which are possible, including:
- Support staff
- User databases
- Email addresses
- Servers and other infrastructure assets
- Core email features (SMTP software, SPF/DKIM/DMARC authentication, spam filtering, mail storage, backups)
- User interface
- Branding
My guess is that Oath will keep Yahoo and AOL email separate as far as customers can tell (email addresses and webmail user interface) for quite a while. All of the items I listed above can't be rapidly changed without risking loss of revenue, and it will take time for the new Oath management team to make decisions about their short and long term goals.
Here is a prediction (from me): The combined number of AOL and Yahoo accounts (or Oath accounts if they fully merge) will decrease over time. Email is becoming less important to those who are addicted to social media, and I doubt that there will be much interest in keeping multiple email accounts for most younger people in the future.
Bill