(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Telecommunications provider VeriSign (www.verisign.com) announced on Tuesday it has agreed to sell its messaging business to mobile services provider Syniverse Holdings (www.syniverse.com) for $175 million.
The messaging business earned about $140 million in revenue over the last 12 months.
Syniverse provides SMS, MMS, voice and email services to mobile operators, third-party content creators and enterprises, including AT&T, Telefonica and China Telecom.
The company says it expects the combined business to grow about 10 percent annually.
The VeriSign division will be integrated and focus on inter-carrier gateways, picture mail, premium messaging for third-parties, and enterprise mobility solutions, says Syniverse.
Syniverse will acquire about 300 employees from the business located in the United States, India, and Asia.
The deal is part of VeriSign’s strategy to streamline in order to focus on its core businesses of Internet infrastructure, domain registry, online security, and identity protection.
The company sold another mobile messaging unit for about $65 million in February, and sold its Jamba/Jamster mobile content business to News Corp. in 2008.
“Even under challenging economic conditions, we have continued to execute on our divestiture strategy through aligning with buyers with complementary strengths,” says Mark McLaughlin, president and CEO of VeriSign.
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