Will eBay Sell Skype?

eBay (EBAY) has gone on the record saying that they will sell Skype if they fail to find ways of using Skype to support their core ecommerce business.

Richard Waters at the Financial Times got the scoop directly from eBay’s CEO John Donahoe:

“What we’re testing this year are the synergies,” Mr Donahoe told the Financial Times this week after Ebay reported its latest earnings. “If the synergies are strong, we’ll keep it in our portfolio. If not, we’ll reassess it.” That could lead to the disposal of the business, he indicated.

eBay purchased Skype 3 years ago and has failed to find ways of using Skype across its other products in this time, so it is unlikely that miracles will start happening for Skype in the next 8 months. A sale is likely late this year or in the first half of next year.

The news comes despite strong Q1 figures for Skype and others reports suggesting a Google buyout or alliance may be in the works.

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Comments

[JohnPseudonym]

The problem with skype is that many DSL/Cable providers sell the same service.

So what the Cable/DSL providers do is limit your upload speeds to make Skype or any other VOIP undesirable.

If you want to use VOIP, you have to pay for faster uploads which ends up costing you as much as just using VOIP from your cable/DSL provider and getting the higher speed for free.

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eBay wanted to use Skype to dump customer service on the sellers. By integrating it into listings, the customers could call the sellers for free.

Sellers declined to offer free support; so it was a bad move ebays part.

Ebay has become the home of scams, stolen and fake merchandise. Now they are trying to become Amazon..good luck.

[JohnPseudonym]

It's a great technology, but the Cable/DSL companies are not willing going to give up their monopoly.

They want to sell VOIP and they control the bandwidth, so they set the rules; which of course are in their favor...

[Whisper OnThe Wind]

Personally, I don't care WHO has Skype, as long as they support the equipment. If they're not going to do that, none of it's worth going for. To get DSL, you need a regular phone line. If you're going to pay for the phone line you might as well use the phone. If they cut the price of the line (to just what is needed for the DSL), for those who prefer using Skype, it might not be a bad deal.

[Whisper OnThe Wind]

Personally, I don't care WHO has Skype, as long as they support the equipment. If they're not going to do that, none of it's worth going for. To get DSL, you need a regular phone line. If you're going to pay for the phone line you might as well use the phone. If they cut the price of the line (to just what is needed for the DSL), for those who prefer using Skype, it might not be a bad deal.

[ronaldpeer]

Instead of making stupid comments try to understand the busniess dynamics. Looks like you guys are getting paid from some ebay rivals.

[StateOfConfusion]

I use Skype on a DSL line. I don't have regular phone service so i pay $5/ month for the DSL data line and another $40 for HS internet. With Skype out costing $30/year and internet costing the same with or with out Skype, its a good deal. Use Cell for incoming calls then switch to Skype to talk. Quality is great with drop rates better than cell phones.

[Jay77]

What a dumb article - eBay has already embedded skype in it's platform.