It seems that only yesterday we talked about these rumors. Actually, it was at the end of September.

Once again the rumors come from a source I'm not sure about, China TechNews.com (I guess that's why they're called rumors). Yet, when this same source reported about the resignation of eBay, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) China, or eBay Eachnet's CEO; a report that ended up being correct.

Now the Internet magazine is reporting (citing Chinese media sources) that Tom Online (NASDAQ:TOMO) has signed an agreement with eBay Eachnet to acquire it with a formal announcement coming soon.

Apparently, someone named Zhou Kaixuan, who is also a shareholder in eBay's Skype (which sounds a little odd to me), was the mediator in the negotiations. That's a pretty specific detail, I'd say.

eBay is denying the rumor.

Well, this doesn't sit well with me at all:

• First of all, Meg Whitman, eBay's CEO just recently said in the Q3 earnings call that eBay is committed to China.
• Second, after leaving Japan and having increasingly strong competition from Gmarket in Korea, selling eBay Eachnet would mean eBay is not only leaving China, but the whole of Asia pretty much (well, not India).
• Third, I also mentioned here the possible difficulties for Skype in China and PayPal already has a problem there with regulations as it cannot be fully owned by foreigners. What does that leave then?

I still hope that the rumors are wrong and that there is a strategy hidden in those sale rumors.

Have Tom.com and eBay China finally signed an agreement? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 03 Nov 2006 17:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.