It’s normal to get cold feet before a wedding, especially if your intended is a technology company that is facing legal action after millions of user accounts were breached, and everyone was saying you’d created a spy tool for the government to snoop on users’ emails. That’s reportedly why Verizon is angling to get $1 billion off the $4.8 billion price it agreed to pay to purchase Yahoo’s internet business.

The New York Post cites that ever mysterious “source familiar” with the matter who say the request came in the wake of Yahoo’s recent go-around in the news. The deal isn’t off, but it seems passions have cooled a bit and Verizon feels like Yahoo’s value has taken a ding.

“In the last day we’ve heard that [AOL CEO] Tim [Armstrong] is getting cold feet. He’s pretty upset about the lack of disclosure and he’s saying can we get out of this or can we reduce the price?” the source said of Verizon’s thinking.

Maybe Verizon is just trying to spook Yahoo a bit so the tech company will drop that price tag, but the insiders say Yahoo’s deal team has been pushing back against negotiation attempts: a deal is a deal, the insiders say, and Verizon doesn’t have any legal recourse to change the terms now.

However, as we noted previously, the language of the deal between the companies means that Verizon could either back out — or negotiate a lower price — if a court finds that the breach is an adverse event that lowers Yahoo’s value.

Yahoo’s next board meeting is in two weeks, and in the meantime the two sides will continue to talk things over, the Post reports, while both companies declined to comment.

Verizon wants $1B discount on Yahoo deal after reports of hacking, spying [The New York Post]

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