Ebay pays up to $4.1bn for Skype

[foxy123]

Ebay has agreed to buy Skype, the fast-growing provider of voice calls over the internet, for $2.6bn, with the price rising to as much as $4.1bn if the company hits certain performance targets over the next three years.
Taken from FT.com

[az]

Skype is a service based company. It is a shame that their client is closed-source.

[Qrk]

Can someone say "Bubble?" I think skype is a great program, but how is it worth 3 to four billion dollars?

[foxy123]

Can someone say "Bubble?" I think skype is a great program, but how is it worth 3 to four billion dollars?
I guess it is their service, which is worth this money, not just a programme...

[Qrk]

Even that... How much money can Skype make by providing free phone calls? And if they charge there are going to be a thousand other programs to do the same thing (probably a few open sourced ones too) Their income is limited to charging for computer to land/cell phone calls, which is limited.

[endy]

Now all eBay have to do is bundle in some spyware, *cough* I mean new features and they are all set :D

[Qrk]

Reason number 101,352,719 why I use Linux

[skoal]

Skype is a service based company. It is a shame that their client is closed-source.
Whoa. How'd I not see that earlier? I'm not normally one inclined to agree with most FSF business models, azz, but I think you make an excellent point there. Sounds like skype missed the OSS boat, maybe eBay will jump on it...

\\//_