Rumor: Cisco Looking to Sell Linksys Unit

Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO) is seeking a buyer for its Linksys wireless home routers business, reports Bloomberg.

According to the report, Cisco has hired Barclays Capital to help it sell the business, citing "people with knowledge of the situation."

Cisco acquired Linksys for US$500 million in March 2003, but Bloomberg's sources say the price tag for the business is likely to be much less than what Cisco paid for it back then. (See Cisco Buying Linksys for $500M and Cisco to Buy Linksys.)

The decision to consider a sale is viewed as part of Cisco's efforts to exit certain consumer-oriented businesses -- a process that the company started last year -- in order to simplify the company and focus on its corporate and telecom customer base. For more

• Cisco Finally Drops ūmi
• Cisco Flips on Consumer Business
• Cisco Starts Spring Cleaning
• End of an Eos
• Did Cisco Cut Deep Enough?
• Cisco Simplifies; Cuts 6,500 Jobs
• Chambers Promises a Simpler Cisco

— Michelle Donegan, European Editor, Light Reading Mobile