seeks to dump other properties.
Yahoo is divesting itself of ‘baggage’ apparently – as they pull back more and more from seach to concentrate on news, the online company is changing a lot of things. First comes the dumping of HotJobs – rumored for some time, it was finally formally announced.
According to Business Wire:
Monster Worldwide, Inc. announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the assets of Yahoo! HotJobs, a leading online recruitment website, from Yahoo! for $225 million in cash. Monster and Yahoo! have also entered into a three year commercial traffic agreement, to take effect upon the closing of the acquisition, in which Monster will become Yahoo!’s provider of career and job content on the Yahoo! homepage in the United States and Canada. The traffic agreement calls for performance based annual payments calculated by clicks and expressions of interest, subject to annual floors and ceilings. In addition, the traffic agreement provides Monster with an exclusive right for a period of time following the closing of the acquisition to negotiate similar traffic agreements with Yahoo! properties on a global basis, including countries in Europe, Asia and Latin America, subject to certain limitations.
In addition, Paid Content listed a few extra addendums to the deal:
Ancillary agreements include
—(i) a license agreement, pursuant to which Yahoo will grant to Monster a license of certain patents and trade secrets for use by Monster, and Monster will agree to grant back to Yahoo a license of the technology, trade secrets and patents assigned to Monster
—(ii) a transition services agreement to ensure Monster’s ability to operate the HotJobs business for a period of six months following the closing (as such time period may be extended in Monster’s discretion by up to three additional months) and
—(iii) a commercial traffic agreement, pursuant to which Yahoo has agreed to place hyperlinks on Yahoo’s homepages in the United States and Canada and certain other Yahoo properties designed to direct user traffic to Monster.com and Monster.ca.
Is Yahoo really planning to pull back on EVERYTHING except news? They have also been rumoured to be planning to unload additional assets such as Zimbra (according to The A Register):
VMware has agreed to purchase Yahoo!’s Zimbra unit – an outfit that offers enterprise email, collaboration, and calendering – after earlier reports indicated a pact was on the cards.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. But sources speaking with All Things Digital say the price is “well below” the $350m Yahoo! paid for Zimbra in the fall of 2007.
VMware says it will purchase all Zimbra technology and intellectual property, but that Yahoo! will retain the right to use Zimbra tech in its consumer email and calendar services: Yahoo! Mail and Yahoo! Calendar.
Yahoo Small Business was also said to be on the bock, but has since been pulled, according to Reuters:
The sale of Yahoo’s small business unit, which had been rumored for months, has apparently found no takers and now the Internet firm has pulled the offer from the table, news website DailyFinance reported.
Last September a source “familiar with the matter” told Reuters that Yahoo’s asking price of between $350 million to $500 million was “likely higher than what buyers were willing to pay.”
Yahoo’s small business division provides domains, email, Web hosting and other merchant services to customers.
The Reuters story listed private equity firm General Atlantic LLC as a potential buyer because it owns Network Solutions, which provides similar services to small businesses.
Brian Nelson, Yahoo’s director of communications, told DailyFinance via email: “We are focused on competing and winning in Yahoo Small Business. We will always look at parts of the business where divestitures, partnerships or outsourcing could generate incremental value and help us improve our focus.”
Tags: HotJobs, Monster.com, small business, Yahoo