I Think They Are! I Think They Are!

On the heels of of this piece on moves by eBay to divest itself of, shall we say, less then stellar performers we find this –

eBay said today it’s targeting an initial public offering for Skype in the first half of next year. The IPO idea follows recent rumors that Skype founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis were rounding up private equity partners to buy back their firm for $1.7bn. The IPO might also be a scheme for eBay to drive up the bidding price and make some of its money back.

The company has been looking for ways to offload its VoIP outfit since at least the beginning of this year, if only it could find someone willing to pay the right amount.

eBay’s chief executive John Donahoe today cited “limited synergies” between the online auction house and VoIP engine, adding he thinks Skype will do better as a stand-alone publicly traded company. Donahoe said he’s spent a year meditating on Skype’s fate since he replaced Meg Whitman as CEO in April 2008.

There are two aspects to this bust up. –

For Skype it certainly means they will have to earn their way. Its hard to say if there will be changes since the company has always been private; you don’t see the financials. But if the VoIP-PSTN and international calls are not paying the freight then Skype will be forced to go to a subscription model. They have a large user base so it is possible they could charge a $10-20 annual fee. That is dirt cheap for what they provide. Time will tell on that score.

As to eBay itself. I hope that CEO Donahoe is preparing to clean things up at the home office. Personally I rarely use eBay anymore. eBay has chased off the person to person seller. More succinctly they have buried the PtP seller in a flood of eBay stores that regardless of your search criteria are 5 pages deep all selling the same piece of garbage within a $1 of each other. No I don’t need that wind up radio-flashlight-battery charger-cum-ginsu knife sharpener for $11.99. All 344 versions of them.

Do I think Donahoe has challenges ahead for eBay? You bet and I am not so sure that they will succeed.

Linky.