EBAY - Skype Deal

Well, looks like I spoke just a few hours too soon. The Financial Times released information on the deal tonight. I guess we'll see tomorrow how the street reacts. On one hand the total cost of the deal is less than rumored, but then again, it's still a large deal.

Here are a couple of excerpts from FT (full story here):

"EBay was in the final stages late Sunday of sealing an agreement to buy Skype, the fast-growing provider of voice calls over the internet, for more than $2.6bn, according to a person close to the situation."

"Under the terms of the potential deal, Ebay is understood to be preparing to pay $1.3bn, in cash, along with another $1.3bn worth of stock. It would also pay $1.5bn in performance-related benefits as part of an earn-out that would keep Skype's managers at the company until 2008."