After buying the open-source email company Zimbra two years ago for $350 Million, Yahoo is now looking into selling it to further unload. Kara Swisher of AllThingsDigital noted that Yahoo’s plan to sell Zimbra is part of its big effort to slim down its online properties. And it’s really not surprising that with such a plan, Zimbra would be one of the first target since it is not really an original Yahoo product. And besides, Yahoo has not really done anything with it since they got Zimbra in 2007.
It’s a pity that Yahoo has lost interest with Zimbra considering that it was a promising product prior to getting bought by Yahoo. Zimbra used to be an innovative product with backing from Benchmark Capital, Redpoint Ventures and Accel Partners.
Although Google and Comcast were both identified as potential buyer plus some other private equity investors, the thing is Yahoo is already at a loss in the situation. Meaning it can no longer sell Zimbra at a higher or even at the same price when it bought the company.
Yet another bad deal for Yahoo… I know we’re all wondering just how much more market share it’s going to continue to lose to Google and to Bing. Such a shame that the engine to start it all is having such a hard time keeping up with the new kids on the block…