Comments from the CEO of eBay have caused speculation that the Internet can be a promising market to unload Skype. But any fan of that comes to eBay knocking on the door will likely have to pay a hefty price for the Internet phone service.

The Times London reported Monday that John Donahoe, executive director of eBay, Skype has described as “a great standalone business” at a conference last week, with investors after the company reported disappointing fourth-quarter results.

News has left many in the industry wondering if eBay will put Skype, which it paid a hefty $ 2.6 billion on the purchase in 2005 at the auction block. Donahoe said last year that eBay will consider the sale of the company, if it can not be integrated with the auction or payment system PayPal.

And according to statements made during the conference, it looks Donahoe do not think there are a lot of Skype technology can do to help other eBay businesses. When asked what eBay in order to add value to the shareholders of Skype, Donahoe acknowledged that “collaboration between Skype and other parts of our portfolio will be minimal,” says the document.

So eBay search unload Skype? The answer is probably yes and no. Since Skype is not a major for the eBay online auction business, experts say that eBay will be happy to let Skype go at the right price. But Skype, which posted only 26 percent of income for the fourth quarter compared with a year ago, is one of the only bright spot in the overall eBay business, which means that eBay is not desperate for him to look.

“Skype does not drag on eBay at all,” said Jim Friedland, senior Internet analyst for Cowen and equity companies. “In fact, this is one of the fastest-growing assets of the company right now. But I am confident that the company will sell it if they can get a hefty premium for it.”

Indeed, eBay reported that its net income for the fourth quarter fell more than 30 percent over the same period last year, marking the first time that the company has seen it year after year fall in revenues. In addition, the second consecutive quarter that the company saw the total value of all goods sold at the crash site, indicating that the company’s core business is struggling.

Meanwhile, PayPal and Skype, eBay the other two main business units, grew up in the fourth quarter. PayPal revenues were 11 per cent to $ 623 million. And Skype revenues grew by 26 percent to $ 145 million.

Skype is also adding new subscribers at a rapid pace. Scott Durchslag, company Chief Operating Officer, told reporters at the Consumer Electronics Show this month that it was adding about 30 million subscribers in the quarter. He currently has 370 million registered users worldwide. These users make many phone calls. Today, about 8 percent of the world’s voice minutes, based on the Skype call, “he said.

All told, Durchslag said Skype has grown by about 50 per cent over the previous year in nearly every metric - from minutes to new subscribers for income. He also said that the company was just its seventh straight quarter of profitability.

Because of this growth in Skype, eBay has little reason to sell Skype at the moment. He could hold a service and run it as a separate business, and still make a profit.

But, of course, any business and assets for sale at a reasonable price. But the price that a potential suitor would have to pay for Skype, perhaps too high.

Three years ago, eBay paid 2.6 billion for Skype. There is no question now that prices are too high. In 2007, eBay said it would take $ 900 million so-called impairment write-off of the value of Skype. This means that eBay has been forced to reassess the value of Internet-telephony company relative to its overall business today. By recording a charge, the company basically saying that it has taken the loss of their original investment.

“Peak” in the price?
Based on its current financial, the highest price that eBay can hope to get on Skype is about $ 1.6 billion, said Friedland. And he said that it would be generous offer. eBay itself Skype worth of assets on the balance sheet at $ 2 billion, so it unlikely the company will take a lower rate, Friedland anticipated.

Friedland also said inflated price that eBay paid for Skype is already built into the value of eBay stock, which means the company is not under pressure to sell the bad assets.

“I am confident that eBay shareholders are likely to think that money would have been much higher than the cost of something else, such as payment of dividends, he said.” But that water under the bridge at that time. Moving forward, Skype does not cost very hurt eBay “.

In addition to the slumping economy, there are other causes of potential fans likely will not be willing to pay a premium for Skype.

On the one hand, the strategic importance of Skype today is not what it was three and a half years ago, when eBay bought it. Today, three major Internet search companies, which may be interested in Skype - Microsoft, Google and Yahoo - have comparable communications, including instant messaging and voice and video communications. So in terms of technology, Skype does not offer anything that other companies do not have. Even phone companies AT & T and Verizon Communications have already had their own flavor voice over IP technology.

So the acquirer will likely buy Skype for its 370 million registered users who have nothing to sneeze at. But the main question is how much money can be made from these people? Of course, people love to use Skype for free services, but most of its income is made from a small portion of its users. Skype generates most of its revenue from its service SkypeOut, which charges users to make calls from the Skype service to regular landline phones and mobile phones.

SkypeOut income sufficient to maintain the Skype business model today, but as IP networks deployed worldwide, and all communication becomes IP-enabled, there will be fewer opportunities to earn money with your Skype calls with the telephone network. Moreover, like Skype adds more subscribers, so users are more likely to talk with each other for free Skype network Skype, rather than paying to call those friends and family to regular phones. Of course, it will probably take years for this scenario to play, but this fact may be the color of the potential buyer’s willingness to pay more for services.

“The more people adopt Skype, there is potential for the asset to peak in value,” said Friedland. “This does not happen, perhaps even from five to eight years. And if Skype does not come with a new significant revenue driver, he can begin to decline.”

Skype is not going to sit to wait for its business model to zasyhayut. The Company believes mobile phone and video applications, as major components of its future strategy. But the question remains: how will the money Skype services?

Skype is also seeking to push the business market.

“We are seeing a new opportunity in the business market, as the company that I would never have thought would be a target for Skype are actively coming to us and ask for solutions,” said Durchslag at CES earlier this month.

Most likely suitor: Microsoft
Despite all these factors, there is still a chance that a company or two might be interested in buying Skype. Friedland said he was not surprised if Microsoft made a play for Skype.

“We see Microsoft as the most likely candidate to acquire the assets of Skype,” he said. “Microsoft, probably did so to strengthen their position online and buy a share of the market.”

He pointed to other deals that Microsoft has made in recent years, which aim to capture greater market share than scoring gains. It is used in the recent mobile search deal with Verizon Wireless as an example. Microsoft has signed a contract with Verizon to become default search engine on all mobile phones Verizon. As part of the deal, Verizon agreed to pay at least $ 400 million. But Friedland said that he did not believe that Microsoft will do much more than the minimum income from the transaction.

“Microsoft has been very aggressive about making deals,” he said. “So for them it would be all about buying market share.”

One thing is clear: Skype has already gained significant recognition of the name. Even Opry Uinfri is a fan of technology and often use video service on its talk shows, to interact with the guests, who can not be in her studio. In addition, she uses it to connect its customers with the sponsors of the club and contribute chats. And, as we saw in the past, in the month endorsements carry much weight. Just ask Barack Obama.