eBay buys Skype for $2.6Bn
p2p news / p2pnet:- Who could resist a couple of billion dollars? Not Niklas Zennström or Janus Friis.
In 2002, the pair sold their Kazaa Media Desktop software, the Kazaa.com domain name and a license to their FastTrack networking technology to a then unknown Australian company, Sharman Networks.
Under Sharman and its boss, Nikki Hemming, the once universally popular Kazaa application was hooked up with Brilliant Digital Entertainment and Altnet to be loaded with spyware and adware, quickly becoming the most despised piece of p2p software going, a position it still enjoys today. And while Sharman became increasingly embroiled with complaints from users and lawsuits from the Big Music cartel, Zennström and Friis quietly began developing Skype, their VoIP project.
Now they’ve just become double billionaires having sold Skype to yet another company whose online integrity is, to say the least, questionable.
eBay, owner of PayPal, has acquired Skype Technologies SA for $2.6 billion in cash and stock, and nor does it end there. “The maximum amount potentially payable under the performance-based earn-out is approximately EUR 1.2 billion, or approximately $1.5 billion, and would be payable in cash or eBay stock, at eBay’s discretion, with an expected payment date in 2008 or 2009,” say the two companies in a statement.
Zennström and Friis will become part of eBay’s “senior executive team,” reporting to eBay ceo Meg eBay CEO Whitman.
“By combining the two leading ecommerce franchises, EBay and PayPal, with the leader in Internet voice communications, we will create an extraordinarily powerful environment for business on the net,” Whitman says.
So what’ll happen to Skype? With eBay and PayPal involved, think adware, or worse, and say Goodbye to privacy.
“Skype will streamline and improve communications between buyers and sellers as it is integrated into the eBay marketplace,” says the statement. “Buyers will gain an easy way to talk to sellers quickly and get the information they need to buy, and sellers can more easily build relationships with customers and close sales. As a result, Skype can increase the velocity of trade on eBay, especially in categories that require more involved communications such as used cars, business and industrial equipment, and high-end collectibles.”
Moreover, eBay continues, the buy will allow Skype to, “pursue entirely new lines of business.
“For example, in addition to eBay’s current transaction-based fees, ecommerce communications could be monetized on a pay-per-call basis through Skype.
“Pay-per-call communications opens up new categories of ecommerce, especially for those sectors that depend on a lead-generation model such as personal and business services, travel, new cars, and real estate. eBay’s other shopping websites – Shopping.com, Rent.com, Marktplaats.nl and Kijiji – can also benefit from the integration of Skype.
“PayPal and Skype also make a powerful combination. For example, a PayPal wallet associated with each Skype account could make it much easier for users to pay for Skype fee-based services, adding to the number of PayPal accounts and increasing payment volume.
“In addition, Skype can help expand the eBay and PayPal global footprint by providing buyers and sellers in emerging ecommerce markets, such as China, India, and Russia, with a more personal way to communicate online. And consumers in markets where eBay currently has a limited presence, such as Japan and Scandinavia, can learn about eBay and PayPal through Skype. Skype can also help streamline cross-border trading and communications.”
All of the above means Skype will go down the Kazaa Road, being transformed from a visionary Internet communications technology into a hard-core corporate cash-cow run by another US company which places the Almighty Dollar above all else.
RIP, Skype.
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See:-
eBay – eBay to Acquire Skype, September 12, 2005
September 12th, 2005 at 9:25 pm
Indeed, RIP Skype, your former self will be greatly missed.
What infuriated me most about the corporate drivel were the new and fantastic uses Skype would have in a global ecommerce future – so now I’m going to get people ringing me up on eBay with stupid questions about postage etc? And people will be able to pay for Skype through their PayPal account, how convenient. Ahhh, it will doubtless add a whole new world of possabilities to phishing.
Okay, my pot shots at eBay et al are a little simplistic, I’ll grant you. The statement they put out was doubtless there to justify the purchase of Skype to jittery shareholders. Still, once again corporate America absorbs and neuters yet another exciting, liberating, innovative technology.
September 12th, 2005 at 10:19 pm
Yeah it is sad, but honestly WHO ON EARTH WOULD REJECT 2.6 BN?!?! Even if You were a complete anti capitalist think what you could do good in the world with that kind of money. And besides, there are plenty of other similar programs and i am sure plenty and better ones will follow in the future. So who cares…
September 13th, 2005 at 8:21 pm
Sadly it’s not as easy as “use another program”. I hated ICQ with a passion back in the day, but most of my friends used it, so it was either isolation or ICQ. Skype is the leader, it’s got the biggest brand recognition, and those who don’t know about it certainly will when eBay gets into gear. Will Skype be the next ICQ?
April 10th, 2009 at 3:51 am
Wonderful post, thanks for this.