$8,500,000,000.00 sure looks better than $8.5b...
I put it that way to emphasize how much they're paying.Some history: eBay bought Skype in 2005 for $2.6 billion ($3.1 billion according to this article), sold 70% two years ago for $2 billion.
And you would think an auction site would know to sell high!
I think that they are overpaying
The need competition to Google Voice
If that's all it'll be I have no objections.
With Office being their main source of revenue, they are desperate to keep users and try to compete with Google.
I think this is just another indicator of eBay's poor business skills. They're lucky they bought PayPal or they'd be in even bigger trouble than they are now. I think they're making more off PayPal than eBay at this point.
If there was another auction site to compete...