Dive Brief:
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Verizon Communications Inc. announced Tuesday it will sell 24 data center sites and their operations to Equinix, Inc. for approximately $3.6 billion. The transaction is expected to close by mid-2017.
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The sites contain 29 data center buildings across 15 metro markets in North and Latin America.
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Verizon said the sale will not affect its managed hosting and cloud offerings or its data center services.
Dive Insight:
Rumors of the sale first surfaced in October. Verizon acquired most of the data centers through its $1.4 billion purchase of Terremark Worldwide in 2011, but the company has been selling businesses that don’t jive with its strategic plan for the last several years. Verizon has worked to focus resources in areas that will help drive digital transformation for enterprise customers.
Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam wants to pivot the company to focus more on wireless, the Internet of Things and online video and advertising. In July, Verizon announced it was purchasing Yahoo's core operating business for $4.83 billion in cash.
Meanwhile, Equinix will use the data centers to expand its services. Equinix president and CEO Steve Smith said in a blog that the purchase "significantly increases the size and sophistication of our enterprise and government ecosystems."
