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It's universally believed that eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) overpaid badly for its $3.1 billion acquisition of Skype, a revolutionary online phone company that, regardless of how cool it happens to be, doesn't generate a lot of income or fit with eBay's core business in any meaningful way.
When Meg Whitman retired as CEO, John Donahoe replaced her and has said repeatedly that he is open to selling Skype.
Now the New York Times reports that "Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, the founders of Skype, have approached several private equity firms and are pooling their own substantial resources to make a bid for the Internet calling service, say several people with knowledge of their plans."
Skype is looking to sell the company for at least $1.7 billion -- the current value of the company on its balance sheet following a 2007 writedown.
You have to love the way mergers and acquisitions work. The Skype founders sold Skype to eBay for $3.1 billion and investment bankers collected millions in fees. Now the founders are hoping to buy the company back for far less money and investment bankers will collect millions more in fees. Meanwhile, eBay shareholders have been taken to the cleaners and no value was created.
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