While eBay will acquire Skype's 54 million users in 225 countries and territories, the company said it was not interested in becoming a telecommunications provider or challenging traditional phone providers. Skype, like Kazaa, uses a peer-to-peer file-sharing technology.

Friis in Kazaa would not affect Skype or eBay. Meg Whitman, chief executive of eBay, said the acquisition did not mean that eBay intended to become a Web portal like Yahoo, Microsoft and Google, which deliver a range of services.Įxecutives at eBay said that any litigation involving Kazaa or the involvement of Mr. The News Corporation, Google and Yahoo had been mentioned as potential suitors in recent months.

The deal ends months of speculation about who might scoop up Skype, which since 2002 has been offering downloadable software that allows users to talk to one another over the Internet through their personal computers. Though Skype's revenue is expected to grow to about $200 million in 2006, from an estimated $60 million this year, eBay does not expect Skype - which gives its basic PC-to-PC service away free - to turn a profit until the fourth quarter next year. The total value of the deal may grow based on 'potential performance-based consideration' that could be worth an additional $1.5 billion, eBay said. EBay said yesterday that it would buy Skype Technologies, the Internet phone provider based in Luxembourg, for $2.6 billion in cash and stock, a move that eBay hopes will bolster trading on its online auction site.

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