Shakeup at Skype

eBay, which bought Skype for $2.6B (B as in billion) awhile back, is revamping Skype management, taking a few additional charges on the books ($1.6B worth) and generally expressing disappointment in how things have gone with the VoIP service, according to this article in the Wall St. Journal.

I’m not exactly astonished to hear this, as you might have figured out if you read the story of my wanderings through the Skype wilderness. Never seen a company so determined NOT to take your money or provide support, under any circumstance.

My uncle and his wife, who are doing good works among the poor in Cambodia right now, use Skype as a means of contacting friends and relatives in the US quickly and cheaply. My sister’s good friend from college, who spends most of her worklife traveling internationally, does the same.

Skype is too valuable a service–when it works–to give up. I hope eBay can make it work, but after dealing with them on the business side of the house…they have a looong way to go.

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