EBay execs unveiled their plans to end the marriage with Skype, the Internet phone firm it bought in 2005, in order to focus its efforts on the e-commerce business which isn’t at its best right now.

 

It’s not very clear yet how EBay will end the marriage with Skype, but on Tuesday the company executives said they plan to spin off Skype through an initial public offering in 2010. EBay also said it plans to sell recommendation search engine StumbleUpon. 

 

After buying Skype for $3.1 billion four years ago with plans to make full use of the new technology in order to enhance its core action business by enabling users, whether buyers or sellers, to talk in the site’s online marketplace, EBay admitted that the project failed. Investors protested when the acquisition of Skype was carried out arguing that the two companies did not fit together. They were right one thing at least: the marriage won’t work. 

 

Meanwhile, Skype did pretty well. By the end of 2008, the company had 405 million users, about 50% more than the year before. EBay’s chief executive John Donahoe described Skype as a great “stand-alono” company with “accelerating momentums.” But the executive also said Skype has limited synergies with eBay.

 

“We believe operating Skype as a stand-alone publicly traded company is the best path for maximizing its potential,” Donahoe said. 

 

The nee plans were met with cheer by investors. EBay share price went up 56 cents, or 3.9 per cent in after-hours trading on Wall Street.