eBay has let it be known that they are looking to spin off Skype, the Internet phone company by way of public offering.
Nearly 4 years after it acquired Skype for $2.6 billion, eBay has come to terms with the fact that it might not have made the right call with the purchase.
I never did get the marriage of the two companies, but I guess at the time, a $3 billion risk was nothing to worry about.
I came across the following prediction (based on a JP Morgan analyst's note) on the Business Insider:
JPMorgan analyst Imran Khan estimates that Skype's 2010 net revenue could reach $740 million, with EBITDA of roughly $156 million. At a 10-20X EBITDA multiple, that suggests Skype could be worth $1.6 billion to $3.1 billion as a standalone company, Khan says.
$3.1 billion? I have to wonder if they'll ever get that much for Skype.
Still, the company does have a lot to offer. With over 400 million users, Skype is the world's leading Internet phone service, and they did just release a version of Skype for the iPhone and for Blackberry too.
They've picked Goldman Sachs to manage the IPO.
Rich offers his thoughts about the potential IPO of Skype.
I agree with Rich -- this should be an interesting IPO to watch. Not only for what it might mean for tech IPOs in general, but to see if the new Wall Street has the stomach for VoIP.
