The recent economic climate has not been kind to any business as of late, eBay included. According to reports, the struggling e-commerce giant is looking to sell it’s VoIP phone service Skype to the highest bidder. Originally bought in 2005 under the helm of former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, Skype had been purchased for a substantial $2.6 billion. Now four years later John Donahoe is at the head of eBay and is looking for offers around $1.7 billion. Sources report the original owners of Skype – Niklas Zennstorm and Janus Friis – are looking to repurchase the internet-telephone company.
According to reports, Zennstorm and Friis have contacted multiple private equity firms with the goal to raise $1 billion in order to repurchase Skype. No word yet from eBay whether that will be sufficient.
Further evidence eBay is struggling comes with their sale today of their recommendation engine StumbleUpon. Purchased two years ago for $75 million, eBay today sold it back to it’s creators for an undisclosed amount.
seems like a weird pairing to begin with. online auction site combined with internet-phone technology? i mean they both are online…, but after that?