Online auction giant eBay has secured the purchase of Voice Over IP operator Skype Technologies for a massive $2.6 billion (£1.4 billion).
The deal, which is being made in half cash and half stocks, will create an “an unparalleled e-commerce and communications engine” according to eBay, which plans to use the technology to help its users communicate more efficiently.
“Communications is at the heart of e-commerce and community,” explained eBay chief executive Meg Whitman. “By combining the two leading e-commerce franchises, eBay and PayPal, with the leader in internet voice communications, we will create an extraordinarily powerful environment for business on the net.”
The purchase has been viewed with trepidation by some, however, with suspicions raised by several internet commentators that eBay may have overvalued the company. Internet and technology website Engadget described the purchase price as “astoundingly ridiculous” for a company which “expects to make only $60 million dollars this year,” while VoIP Magazine questioned the commercial viability of eBay’s purchase, asking: “You have to wonder how any company will monetize a Skype service to pay off a $2 billion acquisition, even if they have a vast user base to push it out to.”
However, Niklas Zennstrom, Skype CEO and co-founder, is predictably more optimistic, stating: “Our vision for Skype has always been to build the world’s largest communications business and revolutionize the ease with which people can communicate through the Internet. We can’t think of any better platform to fulfil this vision to become the voice of the internet than with eBay and PayPal.”
Janus Friis, Skype co-founder and senior vice president, strategy added: “We’re great admirers of how eBay and PayPal have simplified global ecommerce and payments. Together we feel we can really change the way that people communicate, shop and do business online.”
Global usage of VoIP technology is expected to grow rapidly in the coming months, with a new Communications report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, reporting that the technology’s growing popularity is threatening the fixed line revenues of traditional carriers, especially for international calls (see VoIP Threatening Traditional Fixed Line Revenues).
The latest estimates from Point Topic suggest that currently over 11 million people use retail VoIP worldwide, marking a 120% increase from just over five million in mid-2004 (see Worldwide VoIP Subscribers More Than Double).
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