The new investors – a group led by Silver Lake Partners, a private equity firm – will buy approximately 65% of Skype, while the rest 35% is still owned by eBay. So, eBay will set to receive approximately $1.9 billion in cash upon sale completion and a note with a principal amount of $125 million (for a total of $2.025 billion.)
If everything go as planned, the transaction will close in the fourth quarter of 2009.
Skype makes approximately $600 million a year, so the deal is pretty much in a reasonable price tag, considering what many Internet-related Companies have to offer in term of profitability (i.e. Facebook is having a hard time breaking even, Twitter is yet to monetize itself, and more)
I’m not sure the deal will impact the end users in many ways – eBay does have the know-how (e.g. Paypal is growing well, as well as Skype), but a positive change will always breathe fresh air to the company, including the clients. Let’s see where this deal will go.
What’s your view about the sales? Will Skype be better in providing value to its huge client base?
Ivan Widjaya
On Skype deal