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Skype for sale

  • 08-09-2005 1:46pm
    #1
    LegacyUser
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 166,026 ✭✭✭✭


    EBay in talks to buy Internet phone firm Skype
    Last updated: 08-09-05, 14:13

    Online auctioneer eBay is in talks to acquire Internet-telephone company Skype Technologies SA for between $2 billion and $3 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported on today.



    Citing people familiar with the matter, the newspaper said the deal would represent a dramatic shift in strategy for the world's largest online auction site. The talks are at a sensitive stage and could fall apart, according to one person briefed on the matter, the Journal said.

    An eBay spokesman declined to comment and Skype officials could not be reached for comment, the newspaper said.

    Luxembourg-based Skype, whose software allows consumers to make free telephone calls around the world over the Internet, has been in discussions with other technology companies, but none has led to a deal. As its core business matures, eBay is searching for new product categories and international markets, the report noted.

    The company has made a string of acquisitions and investments over the last year and a half to enter markets such as rental-property listings, online classified-ad listings and comparison shopping.

    The person familiar with the situation told the Journal that eBay was keen on adding services that make it easier to buy and sell goods online, as it did when it acquired the electronic-payment processing service PayPal in 2002.

    eBay is also interested in entering new businesses that could open up ways for the company to generate revenue, such as pay-per-call Internet telephony, the newspaper report said.


Comments

  • #2
    LegacyUser
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 166,026 ✭✭✭✭LegacyUser


    BBC NEWS 12/9/2005

    Online auction site eBay has agreed to buy internet telephone company Skype Technologies in a $2.6bn (£1.4bn) deal.

    eBay said it would pay half the amount in cash and the other half in stocks to create "an unparalleled e-commerce and communications engine".

    Skype's software lets PC users talk to each other for free and make cut-price calls to mobiles and landlines.

    Other players in the online phone market include computer giants such as Google, Microsoft, AOL and Yahoo.


  • #3
    telecinesk
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 617 ✭✭✭telecinesk


    This bit worries me>> "eBay is also interested in entering new businesses that could open up ways for the company to generate revenue, such as pay-per-call Internet telephony, the newspaper report said."

    Wonder if that will be a bad omen...


  • #4
    Cabaal
    Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators, Regional South East Moderators Posts: 28,536 Mod ✭✭✭✭Cabaal


    telecinesk wrote:
    This bit worries me>> "eBay is also interested in entering new businesses that could open up ways for the company to generate revenue, such as pay-per-call Internet telephony, the newspaper report said."

    Wonder if that will be a bad omen...

    Yeah I noticed that comment on slashdot also, I guess all we can do is sit back and watch what happens


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