Ebay has sold a majority stake in its Skype internet
telephony division, which, according to chief John Donahoe, did not
fit eBay's core e-commerce business.
Donahoe has been seeking to unload Skype ever since taking over
from his predecessor Meg Whitman, who led eBay into the internet
telephony arena.
Just over a year ago, Donahoe said he would
consider selling off Skype if it failed to find any real
synergies with its core e-commerce business.
Ebay has reached a deal to sell a 65% stake in Skype to
a group of private investors as expected, but that does not
include the Skype founders. Earlier this year, Niklas Zennstrom and
Janus Friis
tried to raise funds to buy back their old company, but failed
to meet eBay's asking price.
Instead, the $1.9bn cash deal is with a group made up of private
equity firm Silver Lake, venture capital firms Index Ventures and
Andreessen Horowitz, and a group of banks led by JPMorgan Chase,
according to the
Financial Times.
London-based Index Ventures was an initial backer of Skype.
Andreessen Horowitz was co-founded by Marc Andreessen, a founder of
Netscape and a director of eBay.
According to eBay, the sale values the entire Skype business at
$2.75bn, which represents a better outcome for shareholders than
earlier offers of $2bn.
Ebay acquired Skype in 2005 for over $3bn, but later valued the
company at around $1.67m.
Skype is now recognised as one of the fastest-growing private
internet businesses, reporting revenues of $551m in 2008.