Partial sale of Skype confirmed

Stuart Corner
Wednesday, 02 September 2009 04:47

IT Industry - Strategy

According to TeleGeography, "Skype is profitable, and the company’s traffic growth has been remarkable. Skype generated 43.4 billion minutes of free, Skype-to-Skype (computer-to-computer) traffic in 2007 and 65.5 billion minutes in 2008. Skype also reported 5.6 billion minutes of paid, computer-to-telephone traffic in 2007, and 8.4 billion minutes in 2008."

TeleGeography says that Skype’s impact on the international long-distance market has been particularly strong. TeleGeography estimates that approximately 33 billion minutes of Skype’s computer-to-computer traffic was international, up from 22 billion minutes in 2007. It says that Skype accounted for eight percent of all international voice minutes in 2008, up from six percent in 2006 "Only five years after the launch of its service, Skype has emerged as the largest provider of cross-border voice communications in the world," TeleGeography says.

 

In April 2009, eBay announced plans to separate Skype, starting with an IPO in 2010 , and said it would also consider bids that offered an attractive valuation.

Skype was acquired by eBay in 2005 , with eBay saying the acquisition would "strengthen [eBay's] global marketplace and payments platform, while opening several new lines of business and creating significant new monetisation opportunities for the company...Buyers will gain an easy way to talk to sellers quickly and get the information they need to buy, and sellers can more easily build relationships with customers and close sales. As a result, Skype can increase the velocity of trade on eBay, especially in categories that require more involved communications such as used cars, business and industrial equipment, and high-end collectibles."

eBay also envisaged pay-per-call communications, "especially for those sectors that depend on a lead-generation model such as personal and business services, travel, new cars, and real estate." It suggested that "Skype can help expand the eBay and PayPal global footprint by providing buyers and sellers in emerging ecommerce markets, such as China, India, and Russia, with a more personal way to communicate online. And consumers in markets where eBay currently has a limited presence, such as Japan and Scandinavia, can learn about eBay and PayPal through Skype. Skype can also help streamline cross-border trading and communications."

Although eBay did launch a limited "call via Skype" service to connect bidders and sellers,  it never took off.