Dumb Deals
eBay is a great place to shop for deals. They have not however been the best at getting them.
Specifically I speak of Skype.
Why the hell did eBay buy Skype? Godonlyknows.
There was some twisted web 1.75 logic to the whole thing about global communications and selling in a global marketplace etc etc. Never worked out. If I am selling on ebay the last thing I would want is idiot buyers calling me all the time to ask questions that are already in the listing. It was incredible how many times people would ask things like "what's the shipping cost?", "is it new in box or used?", "Hi, I'm a Nigerian prince..."
So back in 2005 eBay bought Skype, valuing skype at $4.1 billion. They just agreed to sell it, for $2.9 billion (valuation, actual $ changing hands is a different).
Granted, lots of companies have come out with VOIP since then, and Skype's revenue future is a little more iffy and we just went through a recession.. but fundamentally, why the hell did eBay buy them in the first place? I think selling off Skype was a great call, and gives eBay a couple billion to work on its core business, which has very very little to do with calling people..
Specifically I speak of Skype.
Why the hell did eBay buy Skype? Godonlyknows.
There was some twisted web 1.75 logic to the whole thing about global communications and selling in a global marketplace etc etc. Never worked out. If I am selling on ebay the last thing I would want is idiot buyers calling me all the time to ask questions that are already in the listing. It was incredible how many times people would ask things like "what's the shipping cost?", "is it new in box or used?", "Hi, I'm a Nigerian prince..."
So back in 2005 eBay bought Skype, valuing skype at $4.1 billion. They just agreed to sell it, for $2.9 billion (valuation, actual $ changing hands is a different).
Granted, lots of companies have come out with VOIP since then, and Skype's revenue future is a little more iffy and we just went through a recession.. but fundamentally, why the hell did eBay buy them in the first place? I think selling off Skype was a great call, and gives eBay a couple billion to work on its core business, which has very very little to do with calling people..
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