Note to Editor: The Following Is an Investment Opinion Issued by the IO News Wire

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San Jose, Calif. - Nearly three months after first announcing the deal, online auction giant eBay (NASD: EBAY) said that it has completed the sale of a majority stake in its Skype Internet telephone business to an investment group headed by Silver Lake Partners. Under the deal, the investor group -- which also included Joltid Limited, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Andreessen Horowitz -- paid $1.9 billion and a $125 million note in exchange for a 70% stake in the unit.

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eBay waves a tearful goodbye to Skype and pockets a cool $2 billion. Can you figure out why?

There's always time to look at the bright side of life.   

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - EBay Inc EBAY said on Thursday it had completed its sale of its Skype unit, as it had vowed to do before the end of the year.A settlement reached earlier this month over pending litigation involving the web telephone services' founders, eBay and the buyers cleared...

eBay (NSDQ: EBAY) has closed its deal to sell VoIP service Skype for roughly $2.75 billion. The group of buyers—including Joltid Limited, Andreessen Horowitz and others—are paying $1.9 billion in cash up fro...

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eBay has just announced that it has completed the sale of Skype, valuing the company at $2.75 billion. The investor consortium who is the buying party and will control an approximately 70 percent stake is a group led by Silver Lake and includes Joltid (i.e. the group founded by Skype's founders) and certain affiliated parties, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Andreessen Horowitz. As previously announced, eBay received approximately $1.9 billion in cash and a note from the buyer in the principal amount of $125 million. The company retained an approximately 30 percent equity investment in Skype. The company also purchased senior debt securities with a face value of $50 million as part of a Skype debt financing.

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