01 September 2009 | Author: J. Cave SEO Consultant

eBay to sell Skype to private investors

eBay is set to announce a deal later today regarding plans to sell its Skype VOIP service to private investors, according to the New York Times.

Although the deal has yet to be put through, it has been reported that eBay is hoping for a sale in the region of $2billion.

The sale of Skype has been imminent for several months now after Ebay admitted defeat in its plans to combine Skype's technology with the popular auction site. eBay purchased Skype just over four years ago for $4.1billion (£2.5billion) and was hoping the cost-effective technology would allow sellers and bidders to communicate online, but admitted in May that they have since given up on this idea.

More problems arose last month when a legal dispute emerged over the core technology used to power Skype. eBay admitted that if they were to lose the legal dispute, the service would most likely be shut down.

Andreessen Horowitz is cited as a likely investment firm. Headed up by Netscape co-founder Marc Andressen, Andreessen Horowitz is a relatively new venture, having only launched in July of this year.

Other potential buyers include, but are certainly not limited to, Index venture and Silver Lake Partners. There is still also the possibility that Skype's creators, Janus Friis and Niklas Zeenstrom could try to buy the company back, since they were regarded as potential buyers when rumours of a flotation emerged last April.

Finally, Google is still another buyer as - according to the NYT - Skype and Google were in discussions last month over the purchase of the VOIP service. While Google did walk away from the deal, Google is still concerned that the VOIP service could reduce the potential number of future Android devotees.

Full details of the Skype purchase are expected later today.