eBay writes down Skype: What a surprise!
According to the Times Auntie Meg finally bowed to reality. eBay, which paid $2.6b for Skype in 2005, has taken a $1.43b charge and (tacitly) acknowledged that it overpaid for what is essentially a tool for extremely price-sensitive young people to call each other for free.
At the time, many of us wondered why an auctions company was buying an IP telephony business. There was some unconvincing mumbling about letting buyers and seller communicate, which the Times describes as having an effect which is "impossible to measure" - in other words, non-existant.
It had to be absolutely painful for Ms. Whitman to write the final earn-out $570m check to Niklas Zennstrom as he stepped down from the CEO role. Ouch.
At the time, many of us wondered why an auctions company was buying an IP telephony business. There was some unconvincing mumbling about letting buyers and seller communicate, which the Times describes as having an effect which is "impossible to measure" - in other words, non-existant.
It had to be absolutely painful for Ms. Whitman to write the final earn-out $570m check to Niklas Zennstrom as he stepped down from the CEO role. Ouch.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home