• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, April 3, 2017

The merging of two iconic brands during the second quarter of 2017 will form a new company within Verizon that the telecom giant plans to call Oath.

AOL CEO Tim Armstrong confirmed the new name in a Twitter tweet minutes after Business Insider first reported the change.

AOL and Yahoo were separate Internet giants that both lost value. Yahoo faltered, but AOL managed to regain its footing under the guidance of Armstrong.

When Kyle Christensen -- senior VP of marketing at Invoca, a call tracking and analytics company -- first heard the news of the new name, he called "'Oath' a word that carries meaning." And while he initially wasn't sure how it applies to the media business, he realized it's "like they're saying they will keep a promise."

The hashtag Armstrong used on Twitter to announce the name — #taketheoath — signifies a promise and a commitment, Christensen said.

"In the media business there's been an underlying current of what's true and false," he said. "Oath is a concept of keeping a promise and commitment."

Yahoo struggled with keeping customer data secure, and it seems that Armstrong is making an underlying promise to consumers that it won't happen again, Christensen said.

Verizon announced its intent to acquire Yahoo's core assets -- including its search, video and mobile advertising businesses -- in a deal valued at about $4.8 billion in July 2016, but following two data breaches, the two companies re-negotiated down the price.