eBay Buys Skype

Posted on September 12, 2005

The rumors that eBay is buying Skype have turned out to be true. InternetNews.com reports that eBay has dropped $2.6 billion in cash and stock to acquire the free online phone service provider.

Online auction giant eBay (Quote, Chart) is expanding its communications services with a $2.6 billion cash and stock deal to acquire Voice over IP (define) darling Skype Technologies.

In announcing the deal Monday, which had been rumored for weeks, eBay said the acquisition of the Luxembourg-based Skype would strengthen eBay's global marketplace and payments platform. Plus, it's keen to open several new lines of business for both companies.

A PC Pro article says that some analysts believe eBay has paid too much for Skype. The blogosphere is buzzing over the acquisition with over 1,500 posts on Technorati already. Some of the bloggers also think eBay paid too much while others worry about privacy issues.



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