Hudson Barton, who tracks Skype usage over at Borderless Communicator, feels that it would not be in eBay's strategic interest to sell off Skype (whether to Google or any other entity). He feels that Skype is victim of "wag the dog" sellout rumors on April Fool's Day:

It is NOT in eBay's interest to give Google or Microsoft or Yahoo another way to attack its core properties in ecommerce (eBay and PayPal). As a part of eBay's portfolio of assets, Skype is a great bargaining chip to keep its competitors (and partners) honest. eBay would be foolish to sell it to one of them at any price, even the $5-6 billion that some now think it might be worth.

The fact is that Skype is growing fast, is profitable, and is forming partnerships with all the major players in the telephony market. Most importantly, 3 years after eBay bought it Skype's position is ever stronger, and in some respects is now even dominant. The major telecoms and cable companies are truly worried, and well they should be.

He goes on to point out that "Companies that we once thought were in different industries are now playing regularly on each other's turf" and concludes with:

I see them as all in the same business; the information business or what is becoming increasingly known as the IP business. This industry's intense competition and/or cooperation among its players demonstrate clearly how dynamic and undefined the playing field is. Seen in the broader context of IP (information's common carrier), eBay is striving with all sorts of competitors (services, software, and even hardware). We should not be surprised to see eBay invest even more in IP, even if might appear to the blogosphere that its diversifications are unrelated to its ecommerce businesses. Divestiture of Skype at the present time would be foolhardy, and I'll state right here that it's not going to happen.

Read the entire post. I agree with Hudson's perspective. eBay needs to recover its outstanding investment in Skype. Josh needs to work on turning Skype from simply an innovator of excellent technology into a real communications business operation with fully operational support, marketing and business partnerships that are not only strategically sound but sustainable and strong. Only then will it build up a valuation such that eBay would start to look at buyers. My take on the current rumors continues to be: Google Rumors Re Skype: Maybe Josh Found the Agreement.

Tags: Skype, eBay, Google, Hudson Barton, Borderless Communicator

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