Online auction giant eBay has announced plans to spin off web telephone company Skype with an initial public offering (IPO) next year.
In a statement, eBay said it expected the Skype flotation to be completed in the first half of 2010. It said specific timing would depend on market conditions.
'Skype is a great stand-alone business with strong fundamentals and accelerating momentum,' eBay president and chief executive John Donahoe said. But he added that there was limited scope for its business to fit in with eBay and its online payments division PayPal.
'This will give Skype the focus and resources required to continue its growth and effectively compete in online voice and video communications,' Donahoe said.
EBay bought Skype in 2005 for $2.6 billion but found it difficult to integrate the company with its core auction business.
Since the sale, the number of registered Skype users has exploded from 53 million to 405 million but it continues to rely mostly on free user-to-user calls. Revenue in the fourth quarter of 2008 was $145m.
