Verizon Communications Inc.’s takeover of Yahoo Inc. has been thrown into doubt again following news Wednesday that Yahoo had suffered another major hack that had compromised the accounts of a staggering 1 billion users.

According to Bloomberg, Verizon is exploring a price cut or possible exit from its $4.83 billion pending acquisition of Yahoo.

Verizon is said to have created a separate group away from their AOL division of which Yahoo was to be integrated into to review the latest breach disclosures and the company’s options going forward. That group is alleged to be primarily a legal team led by Verizon General Counsel Craig Silliman and is tasked with assessing the damage from the breaches with a purview toward either “killing the deal or renegotiating the Yahoo purchase at a lower price.”

This isn’t the first time Verizon is said to have reviewed their intent to acquire Yahoo, with a report back in October following Yahoo’s first hack disclosure suggesting that they were looking for a $1 billion discount on the acquisition price. This was confirmed when General Counsel Silliman was alleged to have told reporters at a Verizon event in Washington, D.C., that the earlier data breach could trigger a clause allowing it to withdraw from the deal.

One massive data breach is enough to damage the reputation of any company. A second involving 1 billion users could be a near-fatal blow, since any trust Yahoo may have retained after the initial data breach has gone now. Yahoo and its properties have been bleeding traffic for years, and news that it managed to be hacked twice could cause people to think twice before using Yahoo services.

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