Barry Diller not fully convinced with eBay's move to acquire Skype: media

IAC/InterActiveCorp. chairman and chief executive Barry Diller has
indicated it's "difficult to figure out" how eBay's Inc.'s purchase of
Skype Technologies SA fits in with eBay's online auction business,
according to www.marketwatch.com <http://www.marketwatch.com/> .

According to the report, Diller isn't convinced that Skype has anything
to do with eBay's basic business.

Earlier this week, EBay agreed to buy Skype Technologies, the Internet
phone provider based in Luxembourg, for about $2.6 billion. Meg Whitman,
chief executive of eBay had said, "Communications is at the heart of
e-commerce and community. By combining the two leading e-commerce
franchises, eBay and PayPal, with the leader in Internet voice
communications, we will create an extraordinarily powerful environment
for business on the Net."

"I don't understand it," Diller reportedly said about the deal. The
reported added that still, Diller said eBay is a great business that
will keep growing, although not at its current pace. "When asked about
speculation that IAC/InterActiveCorp. is interested in selling HSN, its
Home Shopping Network unit, to rival QVC Inc., Diller said that isn't
the case, adding, tongue-in-cheek, that he would like to buy QVC," said
the report. 
On why IAC/InterActiveCorp hasn't purchased a comparison-shopping site,
Diller reportedly said the company looked at all of them and, while they
serve a purpose, the sites are "boring". "Also, the valuations for
comparison-shopping sites were insane, he reportedly said.

Line56.com reported that in the case of eBay's $2.6 billion acquisition
of Skype, at least one analyst, Mark Main of Ovum, isn't sanguine about
the synergies. "His concerns begin at the level of Skype's user base
itself, of which he says: To date, most of its customers have never paid
Skype anything, and we suspect that many never will. We would question
just how many Skype customers use the service with any regularity,"
according to the report.