eBay rumoured to make bid for Skype

By Steve Malone

Posted on 9 Sep 2005 at 10:54

eBay, the online auction service is rumoured to be in talks over a possible takeover of Skype, the free VoIP service. According to reports, the price tag on the service is said to be anywhere between three and five billion dollars.

Since the service was launched in 2003, the Skype software has been downloaded over 162 million times and the company now has 53 million registered users. Undoubtedly, take up of the Skype software would be given a huge boost if eBay chose to promote it to its user base possibly as a way of putting buyers and sellers into direct contact.

And therein lies the rub. while Skype would doubtless benefit from being taken over by eBay, there is not much of a fit with the business of being an auction house. As a result, analysts are sceptical whether a deal is really in the offing.

Neither Skype nor eBay would comment on what they term 'speculation'.

Niklas Zeenstrom, the co-founder and CEO of Skype has repeatedly said that he is no hurry to sell Skype and that the company is in no need of a cash injection. However, if eBay is serious the price being put on the company may be tempting.