Yahoo to Sell Zymbra, Small Businesses Unit

As Yahoo reshapes itself as a media company, creating original content, it also focuses more on its core businesses and has been shedding some of the less than essential properties. Many have been outright closed down, some have been sold and others still have a price tag on them. Separate reports indicate that Yahoo is looking to sell its website hosting service for small businesses for as much as $500 million and also Zymbra, the open-source email company it acquired in 2007.

The website hosting unit has been for sale for quite a while now – close to six months, according to Reuters – and the decision to get rid of it was made at the same time Hotjobs, Yahoo's online job classifieds site, was also first offered for sale. The unit offers website hosting, email and other related services to small businesses looking to simplify their operations.

Apparently, there has been some interest but it's unclear if there have been any solid offers for the business. The problem is Yahoo's asking price of $350 to $500 million, which none of the interested parties are willing to pay. Initially, Yahoo looked determined to wait for the right price but there has been a resurgence in activity lately, which would indicate that the company may be willing to negotiate further.

Separately, it also looks like Yahoo is trying to get rid of Zymbra, an email company it bought for $350 million two years ago. Yahoo used some of the technology in its own email and calendar products and turned the company into a white-label provider of email and other services similar to Google Apps. The product has been less successful and it doesn't fit with Yahoo's new image anymore. All Things D reports that Google and Comcast are interested, as are some venture capital investors, but the selling price will likely be significantly smaller than what Yahoo originally paid for it.