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eBay admits they overpaid for Skype

Updated Dec 19th, 2018 5:53PM EST
BGR

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It’s not every day you hear a massive corporation admit that they, you know, made a mistake. Then again, we’ve seen stranger things before. EBay today admitted that they may have overpaid when they acquired VoIP company Skype in 2005. How much did they overspend? Roughly $1 billion. That’s quite a bit of cash. EBay is marking down the value of Skype at just over $900 million less than the $2.6 billion it payed to acquire the company just two years prior. Apparently Skype hasn’t proven to be the cash cow that eBay expected, with the company’s attempt to integrate Skype into its auction services falling solidly on their face. It’s not clear as to exactly what eBay intends to do to dig Skype out of the internet telephony hole, but some significant changes are certainly in order if it hopes to reclaim any of that lost revenue.

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Josh Karp Distinguished Fellow

Josh Karp followed his love of technology since a kid through to the present day. As a Special Correspondent at BGR, and part of the first editorial team, Josh covers press conferences, trade shows and other events around the world. An expert in all things mobile, Josh has more than eighteen years of experience covering the wireless industry.