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Skype For Sale? |
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Written by Adam Gosling
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Tuesday, 02 August 2005 |
High Tech gossip columnist Robert X. Cringely is predicting the sale of Skype. In fact, Cringly reckons it nearly sold to Murdoch last week for US$3 billion.
Oddly enough, considering our posting yesterday about VocalTec, Cringly begins his Skype story with “In high tech, the theory goes, advantage lies with the pioneers -- the first company to introduce a product in a new category. And that's true except when it is not…”
Cringly puts Skype in the “later entrant” category of companies that come along after the initial pioneers and offers a better solution.
Cringly says that although Skype didn’t sell it is “a very real possibility” it could be sold soon. He explains in this story how Skype sees its likely income being generated through SkypeOut, SkypeZones and SkypeIn and although he recognises there is potential revenue there he asks “it is a business. But is it a business worth US$3 billion?”
A price tag of US$3 billion would make each of Skypes 20 million customers worth about US$150 each which is, claims Cringly around 10 percent of the imputed value of a phone, mobile or cable customer.
Cringly deduces that the fact Murdoch even knew Skype was for sale it must be “being broadly flogged by an investment bank” so ultimately it will be sold.
He predicts the most likely customers are a broadband provider or a mobile carrier.
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