Skype is wonderful and I use it all the time. However, I do wonder if it is a viable business model.
- eBay bought it for 3.1 billion in 2005 (now seen as one of the worst technology buys of the decade)
- eBay wrote down 900 million of the purchase as unrecoverable
- eBay is now rumored to be selling Skype for 2 billion
- Skype has expected revenues of 600 million in 2009 (note this is not profit) I’m amazed it can generate this much revenue.
- eBay and Skype founders are fighting it out in UK courts on the core technology
Baoman said
http://mashable.com/2009/09/01/ebay-sells-skype/
Ebay got 2.75 billion in the end. Not bad but it still seems like a waste of time for eBay and Skype. Hope the new owners figure out a way of making Skype the standard platform for VOIP. The latest release is a big improvement in sound and video quality.