Skype Low Franchise Leads To eBay Price Cut

eBay will cut as much as $US1.2 billion off the $4.3 billion potential price it agreed to pay for web-based phone-calling service Skype two years ago.

The writedown on the value of the deal came as eBay said Skype co-founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis had resigned as executives, and marks a tacit admission of lackluster returns from Skype since eBay acquired it two years ago.