By 14 April 2009, eBay announced plans to separate from Skype. At the time, Margaret Whitman, the president and CEO of eBay, anticipated that Skype, eBay, and PayPal would create an unparalleled e-commerce and communications engine for buyers and sellers. In 2005, the purpose of the acquisition was to strengthen eBay''s global marketplace and payment platform.

The case describes eBay''s acquisition of Skype in 2005 and later divestment decision. Should Skype create new services to offer to the more profitable professional market? Should Skype develop new relationships with stronger partners? More fundamentally, can Skype remain independent, or must it seek a new corporate parent?

Although it enjoys a potentially bright future as a stand-alone company, it still needs to generate more revenues from users. In light with eBay''s diversification strategy between 19, the case considers the questions that managers at both firms need to answer: Should eBay refocus on its core business and stop diversifying, or should the firm continue to diversify in other directions? If it continues to diversify, should eBay pursue related businesses to build further synergies or unrelated businesses that help it spread its risks? Skype faces different challenges.

By then, eBay had a new president and CEO, John Donahoe, who believes that Skype is a great stand-alone business, adding that Skype has limited synergies with eBay and PayPal.

New skype ceo