Yahoo spent $16m (£12.3m) in the first quarter of 2017 due to the large-scale hacking incidents it suffered in 2013 and 2014 – a sum equivalent to what it paid for the incidents in the fiscal year ended 2016.

According to a 10Q SEC filing, $11m of the $16m spent on the ‘security incidents’ was spent on ‘nonrecurring legal costs’ – which have clearly recurred. Meanwhile, the remaining $5m is associated with the forensic investigation and remediation surrounding the hacking scandal.

In the filing, Yahoo recognises that it will continue to incur expenses related to the breaches for the ‘foreseeable future’ and, as a result, will include these extra costs as part of its operating expenses due to their incurrence.  

The hacks, which Yahoo didn’t publicly reveal until the closing months of 2016, resulted in the theft of 500m and 1bn users’ account data respectively. The two hacks are the biggest data breaches in history by some distance.

It was these breaches that led to Verizon agreeing to pay a lower price for Yahoo’s core internet business when the long-running acquisition saga came to an end in February. Since then, Verizon has confirmed that it will combine Yahoo and AOL to create a new company called ‘Oath’, once the Yahoo acquisition is officially complete.