Academic

The eBay - Skype Spinoff and Standoff

By Gordon Smith, Christine, Hurt, Vic Fleischer, Fred Tung, Lisa Fairfax, David Zaring

eBay has announced that it will spin off Skype, the voice-over-IP service, in the first half of 2010 because of "limited synergies."  O.K., I'll put that in my 2010 Outlook calendar.  Today, this article in the Guardian speculates that the early announcement is part of a standoff between eBay and the founders of Skype, who license technology to eBay that is necessary for Skype to function.  Apparently, the founders are threatening not to renew the license, but are offering to buy back Skype at fire sale prices, assuming that no one else will buy Skype from eBay because it is worthless without the Joltid technology.  I'm not sure how the IPO of Skype solves eBay's problem.  Supposedly if one acquirer realizes that Skype isn't worth anything, then numerous public acquirers would think the same thing.  If this is true, then the owners of Jiltid won't be cowered into raising their asking price or renewing the license.  We'll see how this game of chicken progresses, but it's an interesting study in long-term licensing.

Full post as published by Conglomerate on April 15, 2009 (boomark / email).