Imagination

• eBay CEO John Donahue is rumored to be selling Skype. In a recent interview with Wall St. analysts, he described the world’s most popular VoIP service as a“great stand-alone business”. When asked about how eBay contributes value to Skype, he said “the synergies between Skype and the other parts of our portfolio are minimal. We’re going to continue to run and operate the business. It’s not a distraction currently. And at such time when we have further announcements on that, we’ll let you know.”
• eBay revenue was down 30% this past quarter, despite being the most high-trafficked shopping destination on the internet this holiday seasons. Meanwhile, Skype revenues continued to rise by 26% and membership continues to grow with it. Latest figures showing that Skype has 405 million user accounts worldwide, adding 30 million subscribers every quarter.
• It’s tough to say whether or not eBay will actually unload Skype. As loyal auctioneers become continually frustrated with the company’s client service, fees and scams, eBay will continue to lose market share to niche destinations or Amazon. This means they want to surround themselves with as many rising opportunities in close proximity that they can. Donahue said that Skype is a great standalone business, then again so is StubHub, Kijiji and Craigslist which survive entirely on their own and are all strong eBay investments. Skype just happened to be an investment that eBay saw bright hopes for in the midst of their default operation and it flopped. They imagined everyone from major retailers down to Joe Plumber to have a shop set up on eBay, waiting for customers to enter their store and talk via Skype for customer service. Kind of like a weird reinvention of the 1950’s without brick & mortar. Nonetheless, it didn’t happen, but they are hit a home run anyways by turning Skype profitable. Skype is still groundbreaking, recession-happy and if I had to make my pick, I’d say it will not be sold until eBay is desperate.

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