After much anticipation over the past week, US auction giant eBay has just announced they’ve bought Skype for about $2.6bn (£1.4bn).
The Skype website has full information about the deal:
The acquisition will strengthen eBay’s global marketplace and payments platform, while opening several new lines of business and creating significant new monetization opportunities for the company. The deal also represents a major opportunity for Skype to advance its leadership in Internet voice communications and offer people worldwide new ways to communicate in a global online era. Skype, eBay and PayPal will create an unparalleled ecommerce and communications engine for buyers and sellers around the world.
What does this mean for every Skype and eBay users? Integrated conference calls into eBay auctions I guess. Now, buyers and sellers will also be able to talk to each other before closing a deal. It’s also possible to have video streams later on. Just stretch your imagination.
Founded in 2002 by Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, Skype offers high-quality voice communications to anyone with an Internet connection anywhere in the world. The Skype software is easy to download and install, and enables free calls between Skype users online. Skype’s premium services provide low-cost connectivity to traditional fixed and mobile telephones.
I just hope support and customer care isn’t as inept as Paypal.
Sources: BBC News, Skype Website, Digg
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