eBay Admits to Bad Call on How Much it Paid to Take Over Skype

eBay admitted that it had overpaid hugely for Skype. eBay bought Skype in 2005 for $2.6 billion. Yesterday it warned shareholders that it would have to take an impairment charge of $900 million because it had valued the group too highly two years ago. At the time of the deal, eBay said it would pay a maximum earn-out bonus of $1.7 billion based on various performance targets. It said yesterday that it would pay only $530 million in cash to the Skype founders in the only and last payment of its kind