RSSSkype to be spun off, not sold off, from eBay
By Tim Conneally | Published April 14, 2009, 5:37 PM
Repeating his belief that the synergies between Skype, eBay, and PayPal would be and are limited, eBay CEO John Donohoe announced today his company will spin off Skype in an initial public offering in 2010. That will mark the five-year anniversary of eBay's acquisition of Skype.
Comments from Donohoe during an earnings call in January of this year caused speculation that auction company eBay was looking to offload popular VoIP service provider Skype. Donohoe said, "I think we're now confident that the synergies between Skype and the other parts of our portfolio are minimal...We are going to continue to run and operate the business. It's not a distraction currently and at such time when we have further announcement to that, we'll let you know, but for now, we are very pleased with the momentum of the business and it's not a distraction."
This announcement follows the news that eBay sold the recommendation service StumbleUpon back to its founders, as the company continues to focus on its principal money making property PayPal, and its relationship to the eBay auction site.
IPO and sale amount to the same thing, just a timing and structural difference - an IPO is the start of a staged sale to the public. But in this market? Is anyone buying IPO stock, is anyone underwriting IPOs?
Score: 0
|Translation: Nobody would offer enough when we shopped it around so we'll IPO it and hope for more.
Score: 1
|Meh.
Score: -1
|Holy crap. It's been 5 years?
Score: -1
|Such an analysis and business plan should have probably been undertaken prior to the purchase of Skype rather than as an afterthought 5 yeas later.
Score: 2
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