eBay may announce sale of Skype to group of investors: report

Online marketplace eBay is planning to announce a deal to sell its Skype Internet calling division to a group of private investors today, a media report says.

"eBay plans to announce on Tuesday a deal to sell its Skype Internet calling division to a group of private investors," The New York Times said citing two people briefed on the company's plans.

The investment group is likely to include Andreessen Horowitz, a new venture capital firm headed by Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen, it added.

Attributing to one of the people close to the matter, the report said Index Ventures, a London-based venture capital firm, which was an early investor in Skype, and the private equity firm Silver Lake Partners were also involved.

Meanwhile, a price has not been disclosed, but eBay has said it wants around $2 billion for Skype, which is on track to take in more than $600 million in revenue this year, the NYT report said, adding, an eBay spokesman declined to comment on the matter.

EBay had acquired Skype in 2005, outbidding Google and Yahoo in a deal that has come to be viewed as one of the worst technology transactions of the decade.

The price had ultimately exceeded $3.1 billion which included payouts to Skype's founders. EBay later wrote down $900 million of Skype's value, after it became clear that the company was not a good fit for eBay's main e-commerce and online payment businesses, the report added.