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EBay to buy Skype.

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Forget Siebel and Oracle. This is a huge deal for a new company, $2.6 Billion, but possibly going up to $4.1 Billion!

EBay to Pay at Least $2.6B for Skype

I have to admit I'm not sure what Ebay gets out of this acquisition, some potential International customers for ebay? If they wanted VoIP capabilities in their website for buyers to chat with sellers, they could do it much cheaper, after all Skype has pretty much been built entirely using 3rd party codecs that any other vendor can go and purchase the dev rights to. So if I was an ebay share holder, I am not sure I would be impressed with this expensive purchase.

Comments

Gravatar Image1 - Hey, you should give up on Instant Tech, and Join mcKinsey and co to deliver high level consulting to C level execs on M&A's. Or even better, start you own Management consulting practice.

Thinking of droping 2 to 4 B US$ on a aquisition, come talk to Tyler mcManus and Co for sound advice.

Gravatar Image2 - Or just read my blog and get it for free

Gravatar Image3 - I think Paypal is more the point here, micropayments+global telecoms. I think I can understand how they put together an exciting sounding proposal on that, but fundamentally the software is easy and a commodity, it is all about the directory/userbase. IM is going to be best with real interoperation or a monopoly, I think ebay are shooting to own the monopoly here, but they are not going to get it because the market won't tolerate a monopoly even if it technically works better than islands of users, or users running half a dozen clients each. SIP or XMMP will provide interoperation one day.

Gravatar Image4 - @3 But I wonder, is that ebay's business? Are their customers the kind of people that are likely to use VoIP, and will they be willing to pay for it? We may think it's easy, btu I wonder if my Mum who can sell soemthing on ebay would have any idea what to do with Skype. First question is where does the microphone go and what does it look like?

Gravatar Image5 - It's about auctions! They'll help you create a market for the right to call you, auctioning off inbound minutes to the highest bidder

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