Acquisitions galore
Oracle acquired Siebel.
eBay acquired Skype. Paypal was a logical acquisition for eBay, but I’m not sure this makes much sense. There’s speculation they’ll be convincing buyers and sellers to talk to each other via Skype to speed up transactions, but would that be a huge benefit over email? There’s some speculation prospective buyers could call sellers, too, but is all this worth the billions (US$2.6 billion, plus stock plus performance bonuses) eBay is forking out?
Oh well, Niklas and Janus (Skype creators) must be pleased. Now, why can’t I think up something cool like that?
Me? I acquired a chocolate bar.
Maybe they want to expand into other areas? Seems more plausible than Google buying Skype anyway.
Interesting consideration also, ebay paid US$4.1 billion for only 54 million users. That amounts to almost 100AUD per a user! Surely it can’t have been worth that much.
Hey, I’m a Skype user (occasionally). And I’m an eBay user (again, occasionally). Do I get any share of this dosh?
No, thought not.