EBay Spinning Skype Out Public | Hacker News Reader

EBay Spinning Skype Out Public

siliconangle.com

19 pointsjf7817 comments

eBay Inc. (Nasdaq: EBAY) today announced that it plans to separate Skype from the company, beginning with an initial public offering that is intended to be completed in the first half of 2010.

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"EBay plans IPO for Skype, citing limited synergies"

http://www.physorg.com/news158949373.html

Captain Obvious called, wants his headline back.

I'm surely not the only one who thought the Skype acquisition by eBay was a huge WTF. Now they are forced to admit it.

This is one of the things that I never really understood about Skype either. I have never been using Skype and think, "I should check eBay right now!"

It is funny that they are both independently profitable. No synergy at all.

I worked at ebay when the skype deal was announced... we learned of the impending purchase by seeing an article on WSJ... there were no rumors, no speculation... it was just unfathomable.

To be fair to my former employer, they attempted (several times) to create "synergies" between skype, paypal, and eBay - the frequently restarted "Trident" project for instance. But these projects always had the feel of shaping reality to fit Meg's viewpoint, and always doomed to failure.

This has huge implications for european entrepreneurs. My Angle is that this great news for them. EU startups will be the dark horse in this new market reality. Right now EU startups need more zero and early stage financing. Skype will be the EU bellweather over there. Congrats to Josh and his team for executing like a startup and not letting a corporate structure stop them from doing great.

?? I thought Skype was being sold back to its founders?

The founders were looking to raise funds to buy back - but IF this post is correct, I guess Ebay must think they can get a better price via IPO (or are using the IPO-route as a bargaining tool).

Next $GOOG or $VG?

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