Auction Business Frank Ross on 14 Apr 2009
What going on with eBay Acquisitions?
In the past few weeks, two of eBay’s acquisitions have bailed out (or tried to bail). First it was StumbleUpon who has successfully bailed out of eBay and reestablished themselves as an independent entity. Then it was Skype who tried to buy its way out of eBay but apparently couldn’t raise enough capital to satisfy eBay.
It seems to me that eBay should have taken what they could get for Skype. They bought Skype in 2005 and everyone asked at the time “What exactly is eBay going to do with Skype?” To my knowledge, that question has never been answered. eBay has never shown how Skype service can adequately align with their business model. 4 years later, Skype is still left on the sidelines.
Is the ship sinking at eBay and are the crew jumping on the lifeboats yet?
