IPO planned
eBay is going to spin of its
voice over ip outfit Skype as a public company.
According to a press release
the Skype IPO will be completed in the first half of next year. The move will
kill off rumours that Skype's founders were attempting to put together an
investment group to buy back the company from eBay.
While Skype is a quickly
growing company, the outfit's revenue has slowed mostly because of the large
user base. There are more than 400 million Skype users, and the company
generated $551 million in revenue in 2008.
Ebay has never been happy with its
Skype purchase. It never really fitted into the the auction house's portfolio
very well. Selling it off at the moment does not make good sense either as any
potential buyer will be wanting a bargin basement price.
Ebay paid $2.4 billion
for Skype and the current bids for the outfit seem to have settled at $2
billion. It is hoped that an IPO could generate more cash for the company,
although much depends if the market improves between now and the middle of next
year.