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gibreel ferishtaEBay Inc agreed to sell 65 per cent of its Skype internet-calling unit to an investor group led by Silver Lake for about $2 billion to focus on reviving sales at its main e-commerce site.
The buyers will pay $1.9 billion in cash and will also give EBay a $125 million note, the company said in a statement today. Ebay, which had planned an initial public offering for Skype, will retain 35 per cent of the business. The deal values Skype at $2.75 billion.
The sale lessens Chief Executive Officer John Donahoe’s dependence on a unit that he has said doesn’t fit with the rest of EBay’s operations. The company is improving its Internet- retail operations to stem customer defections to Amazon.com Inc. Donahoe’s predecessor bought Skype for about $2.6 billion in 2005 and wrote down its value the following year.
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