A View on View :: A Skype IPO...Then What?

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A Skype IPO...Then What?

by Mark Evans on Wed 10 Aug 2005 08:54 AM EDT | Permanent Link

If you're interested in Skype and its future (acquisition, IPO), check out an analysis done by BusinessWeek. It provides a nice overview on Skype and the recent discussions that apparently took place with News Corp. The article suggests Skype will likely do an IPO because it needs the money to stay ahead of the competition. What I wonder is how Skype would use a huge whack of IPO cash to maintain its buzz and popularity: more advertising, partnerships, technology acquisitions to drive premium services? Another issues raised in the story is Skype's potential to generate lots of money from "advertising, marketing and the distribution of media", which are things I hadn't thought much about before. As for the $3-billion valuation being thrown about, BusinessWeek compares Skype to Myspace.com, which was recently acquired by News Corp. for $580-million. "It not clear how many corporations might be willing to pay that much for what amounts to an Internet startup, albeit a highly successful one," the article concludes. "MySpace, which has more page views than Google and features ads from major media and consumer goods companies, commanded a fraction of that amount." An interesting take on Skype's valuation is offered by abigidea?, which comes up with $3-billion based on 15 million active Skype users and an acquisition price of $200 per user.
For all the speculation on Skype's future, I wonder why Morgan Stanley, which has been retained by Skype to do an IPO or attract a buyer, doesn't just call Google CEO Eric Schmidt and arrange a meeting. Then, we could talk about how Google is going to take over VOIP.

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