eBay Buys Skype for $4.1 Billion
By Luis F. Escalante
September 11, 2005
eBay creates one-click trust between buyers and sellers.
According to a BusinessWeek article, eBay will be holding an "investors conference call" at 5am PST for an announcement to be made 2 hours before. Since the eBay, Skype talks began early last week, there's been speculation on whether or not this will happen.
An article on MarketWatch, which was last updated at 11:40PM EST (Sept. 11), states eBay and Skype are in the final stages of this deal and would cost as much as $4.1 billion, "if Skype hits certain performance targets between now and 2008." Niklas and Janus, Skype's founders, will receive $1.3 billion in cash, $1.3 billion in stock, and $1.5 billion in rewards, guaranteeing that most of Skype's staff will stick around.
How will this fit into eBay's plans of Internet dominance? One-click calling between sellers and buyers. eBay has released a PowerPoint that better explains why they bought Skype and what they plan to do with the privately held company.
eBay, like News Corp., seems to be on a shopping spree as well. They recently completed the acquisition of Shopping.com. Web 2.0 is officially here.