Yahoo! Continues Shopping Spree, Buys Zimbra
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Written By Sepideh Saremi | September 18, 2007 | Share This
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Yahoo yesterday announced its third acquisition in as many weeks: the company just purchased Zimbra, an open-source office suite, for $350 million. Yahoo recently bought news aggregator BuzzTracker and ad network BlueLithium. From Yahoo’s blog:
Zimbra is a global leader in email and collaboration software and its services are aimed at universities, businesses, and ISPs worldwide, which is a major driver of what made the company so attractive to us. We’re constantly being approached by these entities for our expertise in email and communications. Combining the best of Zimbra with what’s made Yahoo! Mail the top dog in web mail will not only allow us to cater to these markets better than anyone, it will allow us to expand our presence to partners and consumers at school, work, and home.
Ars Technica has a better explanation of what Zimbra actually does:
Zimbra currently offers open source e-mail, calendaring, and contact management solutions that can be used both on- and offline, and services small businesses and educational institutions. The company also encourages users to create “Zimlets,” which tie information from other web services into Zimbra’s suite. The Zimlets essentially act as widgets that can be customized and placed around Zimbra’s e-mail or calendar tools so that users can access information quickly and conveniently. The companies believe that Yahoo’s broad reach with its advertising and content network, combined with Zimlets, will make for a nice pairing.
It all sounds so very Google-like, doesn’t it? Ashkan Karbasfrooshan at HipMojo.com indeed notes that this acquisition gives Google a run for its money, and Read/Write Web likens it to Microsoft’s offerings. Both blogs also mention Zoho, which launched the first Facebook app this summer. Zimbra targets universities, Zoho targets students, and Zoho is considerably smaller than both Google and Microsoft, so Zoho looks to me to be in greatest danger of obsolescence, even though it’s largely an afterthought in much of the discussion generated thus far. But who knows: maybe Yahoo will buy Zoho next week.
Topics: Google, Investment, M&A, Open Source, Yahoo! |