eBay sells off Skype in deal worth $2.75 billion
updated 01:00 pm EDT, Tue September 1, 2009
eBay sells off Skype
Auction site eBay has completed a deal to sell off its Skype VoIP division, according to an announcement. The deal is said to be worth $2.9 billion, granting a 65 percent stake to an investor group including Silver Lake, Index Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. eBay is holding on to a 35 percent equity investment, and gaining $1.9 billion in cash, plus a note in the principal amount of $125 million.
eBay has been working on selling Skype since April of 2009. The company has done relatively little with the division, which while successful in its own right has not provided substantial help in improving eBay's financial situation. eBay's other main division is PayPal, which handles many transactions at ebay.com and a number of third-party websites.
Andreessen Horowitz co-founder Marc Andreessen is notable for being on eBay's board of directors, and having founded Netscape Communications, the creator of the once-popular Navigator web browser.
