14 DAY TRIAL // EBay has announced the sale of its VoIP service Skype to a group of investment companies, confirming the previous speculation. EBay will retain 35 percent of the company, with the other 65 percent being sold for $1.9 billion in cash and a note from the buyer in the principal amount of $125 million. The transaction is led by private equity firm Silver Lake Partners, which likely bared the grunt of the amount involved.
“This is a great deal, unlocking both immediate and long-term value for eBay and tremendous potential for Skype,” John Donahoe, eBay president and CEO, said. “We’ve acted decisively on a deal that delivers a high valuation, gives us significant cash up-front and lets us retain a meaningful minority stake with talented partners. Skype is a strong standalone business, but it does not have synergies with our e-commerce and online payments businesses.”
Other investors include the newly created Andreessen Horowitz fund and Index Ventures, both of which were already rumored to be involved in the deal, joined by the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) Investment Board. Marc Andreessen, of the Andreessen Horowitz fund, also has a seat in eBay's board of directors. The transaction puts Skype valuation at the $2.75 billion mark, considerably higher than the $2 billion eBay initially said it would want for the communications company.
EBay acquired Skype in 2005 and eventually paid $3.1 billion for it. It was soon apparent that the initial plan of integrating the technology with the auctions site wasn't going to work and the Internet giant has been less than happy with the acquisition, eventually writing down $900 million off Skype's value.
Still, Skype generated $551 million in revenue for eBay in 2008 and is on track of making over $600 million in 2009 so the roughly $2 billion paid for the 65 percent stake looks like a very good deal for the investors. EBay initially planed to spin off Skype in an IPO sometime early next year. The announcement made no mentions of the ongoing litigation with Skype's founders, which most likely affected the sale price.