The Yahoo! Diet Begins: Sheds HotJobs in $225 Million Sale to Monster

Well, technically, this isn’t Day 1 of the Yahoo! Diet – the online media giant took its first step on the treadmill on December 10, 2008 when it announced a 1,520-person lay-off. But one wonders why it took 400+ days before it finally started unloading some serious bloat from its, uh, eclectic product lines. Other than exiting Launch Music back in February 2009 and the recent sale of Zimbra — oh and the trimming of so many product management people throughout last year – naughty Y! really hasn’t been keeping to its diet regime.

The HotJobs sale certainly looks like a good move. Of the array of Y! businesses reportedly on the chopping block , it makes sense to sell off HotJobs who saw its usership decline 32% Y/Y in December according to comScore. That must account for the $205M haircut Yahoo! took on the sale (Original purchase price in 2002: $436M. Shareholder value destroyed: 8.6% per annum since 2002. Finally getting some analyst love: Priceless.). Monster’s the wily one, picking HotJobs up for $225M now when it once offered $374M for the privilege (Shareholder savings: 6.6% per annum).

But, you ask yourselves, is this really a good move when the economy is poised to rebound, albeit at a much slower pace? Rising tides float all boats, so HotJobs may not need to be the loser in the consolidation game. Well here’s one person’s read on why this sale ultimately makes sense: Yahoo! has been evaluating its portfolio for less strategic, saleable pieces while it waits out the Great Recession of 2008-2009. Almost all the talking heads are predicting flat to anemic employment for years to come. Asking themselves if they should be the Hunter or the Feast, Senior Yahooligans! must have concluded that HotJobs’ projected ROI just won’t cut it. Considering some of the rough diamonds and true gems in their portfolio, I would tend to agree.

Mark my words, this won’t be the last significant sale you’ll see from the big Y!. Now for the Billion-dollar question: Will a new, trimmer Yahoo! be able to recapture the interest of a certain fat-cat suitor who once dangled a $50B engagement ring? Or will Yahoo! emerge in the end, wiser and more focused, ready to sally forth alone? What do you think?