CNET (NSDQ: CNET) Networks has done its first online divestment for a while: it has sold its once-high-flying online photo sharing site Webshots, to American Greetings (NYSE: AM) for $45 million. Webshots is still among the biggest photo sharing sites, and certainly one of the originals in the space, but with competition from the likes of Flickr, Facebook’s photo sharing app, Photobucket and plenty of others, has seen its dominance decline. Product development also lagged for a few years after CNET bought it in July 2004, though it relaunched in fall last year. Earlier this year CNET decided to scale back on Webhosts.

The buy price then was $70 million, so this definitely is a write-down of sorts for CNET.

For AG, it means they can expand from online greeting cards and other forms of online expression into “the adjacent area of online photo sharing.” More in the release here.

• CNET Acquires Photo Service Webshots For $70 Million
• More on CNET’s Acquisition of Webshots
• CNET Gets Into Social Networking; Launches College Site Off Webshots
• CNET Conference Call: Webshots’ Competition With Facebook; Gamespot vs IGN Etc
• Earnings: CNET Users Up, Views Down, Webshots To Be Scaled Back