Ebay Seeks Skype IPO

by Jordan Yerman | April 14, 2009 at 01:04 pm
104 views | 32 Recommendations | 2 comments

Photos

skype.jpg

skype.jpg

see larger image

uploaded by annieb3525

Online trade giant Ebay is unloading Skype, the ubiquitious VOIP/chat client. Ebay is not selling Skype, but is, in a sense, auctioning parts of it off in an IPO (initial public offering) to take Skype public.

Though many of us equate Skype with "free", it actually makes quite a bit of money... to the tune of $551 million last year, though premium calls and subscription packages.

The IPO is meant to take place next year.

“Skype is a great stand-alone business with strong fundamentals and accelerating momentum,” said eBay CEO John Donahoe. “But it’s clear that Skype has limited synergies with eBay and PayPal. We believe operating Skype as a stand-alone publicly traded company is the best path for maximizing its potential. This will give Skype the focus and resources required to continue its growth and effectively compete in online voice and video communications. In addition, separating Skype will allow eBay to focus entirely on our two core growth engines—e-commerce and online payments—and deliver long-term value to our stockholders.”

This move comes hot on the heels of Ebay's sale of StumbleUpon back to the little toolbar's founders.
The company notes that Skype had 2008 revenue of $551 million, up 44% from 2007, with segment margin of about 21%, and 405 million users at year end, up 47% from 2007. The company noted that it previously projected revenue for Skype is expected to top $1 billion in 2011.
Advertisement
recommend Sign In or Join to post comments
0
Tomitheos Linardos

thanks for this update jordan

1
Uwe Paschen

Is that even legal?

What is NowPublic?

NowPublic lets people work together to cover news events around the world.

Find out more

Crowd Power

Tomitheos Linardos
First Flagged at 1:36 PM, Apr 14, 2009 by Tomitheos Linardos
These members have powered this story:

Most Recommended Stories in Tech & Biz

Recommendations (32)

Most recently recommended by:
 

closeSign in to NowPublic

is reporting from