According to media reports, SoftBank Group's Internet subsidiary Z Holdings paid Verizon Media 178.5 billion yen ($1.61 billion) for the perpetual right to own the Yahoo brand and technology in Japan.

Verizon is selling its media business, which includes Yahoo and AOL, to private equity firm Apollo Global Management (APO.N) in a deal worth $5 billion to be completed later this year.

Yahoo remains a core part of SoftBank's domestic Internet business. Under a previous agreement between Z Holdings and Verizon Media (formerly Oath, the new company resulting from the merger of AOL and Yahoo), Yahoo Japan paid regular royalties for using the "Yahoo" brand and related technology in Japan. And those royalty payments will now cease after Z Holdings agreed to pay $1.6 billion to Verizon Media Inc.