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eBay ostis Skype’i ehk can you say PayPal?

Täna/eile selgus, et Skype’i jaoks kõige soodsama pakkumise tegi lõpuks eBay. Aktsiaid ja raha kokku 2,6 miljardi dollari eest.

Samas pani see tehing taas mõtlema hiljuti Reasonis ilmunud artiklile Who killed PayPal?, mis on ühtlasi ka raamatu The PayPal Wars: Battles With eBay, the Media, the Mafia, and the Rest of Planet Earth arvutus.

Artiklis vaatleb Radley Balko PayPal’i algusaastaid, kuidas entusiasmist ja tahtest pakatavad noored tahtsid maailma muuta, kuidas nende ettevõtlikus ning innovaatilisus võimaldasid neil leida probleemidele huvitavaid ja omapäraseid lahendusi. Kuid nii kuidas kasvas firma, laienes üha rohkem traditsioonilisemate firmade (loe: pankade) territooriumile hakati neid pommitama kohtukutsetega ja pidurdama regulatsioonidega – seda kõike loomulikult “tarbijakaitse” lipu alla:

The financial pressures of battling aggressive government officials and opportunistic class action lawyers, all while trying to stave off a better-funded competitor, soon became too much for the still-young company to bear. “It was clear,” Jackson writes, “that PayPal now faced many challenges outside the marketplace. Entrepreneurial nimbleness may have helped us survive the company’s post-merger internal turmoil and Billpoint’s fierce competitive charge, but these new threats would require a different approach.”

In July 2002 PayPal executives sold the start-up firm to their longtime nemesis, eBay. Jackson notes that the sale had some obvious benefits. The company’s new parent already had a formidable, well-funded legal team in place to deal with PayPal’s litigation and regulation troubles. Also, eBay promised to do away with Billpoint, essentially securing PayPal’s position as the premier online payment provider.

But there were significant drawbacks too—most of them for consumers. Instead of allowing its customers to transact voluntarily with anyone they please, eBay, whose conciliatory approach is touted within the company as its “culture of community,” settled the PATRIOT Act charge with the Justice Department for $10 million and agreed to bar its customers from using the service for online gambling. Shortly thereafter, PayPal announced the even stricter policy that ensnared Quick and Merritt (though both accounts were later reactivated). The new terms of service prohibited the use of PayPal not only for adult-oriented purchases but for “non-adult services whose Web site marketing can be reasonably misconstrued as allowing adult material or services to be purchased using PayPal.”

PayPal today is a far cry from Thiel and Levchin’s dream.

Mulle on jäänud mulje, et Skype pole sama keerulisesse situatsiooni veel sattunud, kuid konkurente suure rahakotiga hüppab põõsast välja nii paremalt (Microsoft) kui vasakult (Google). Telekommid on kadedusest juba niigi roheliseks minemas ning hirm, et tavatelefoniga pole varsti enam suurt midagi teha pakub kindlasti nii mõnelegi telekommi bossile unetuid öötunde.

Samas on esimesed otsustatavad sammud Skype vastu vähemalt Hiinas juba astutud. Postimees vahendab (via BC blogi):

Päevalehe Shanghai Daily teatel hakkas China Telecom hiljuti blokeerima Skype’i teenuste kasutamist Shenzheni linnas.

Ajalehe andmeil kavatseb ka internetiteenust pakkuv suurettevõte keelustada Skype’i kaudu internetikõnede tegemise võimaluse kogu riigis.

. . .

Skype võimaldab hiinlastel teha arvuti vahendusel kaugekõnesid Ameerika Ühendriikidesse ja Euroopasse kuni 40 korda odavamalt kui China Telecom.

Kaugekõnede eest kasseeritud raha moodustas umbes 20 protsenti China Telecomi möödunud aasta kasumist.

Loodetavasti annab eBay juristide armee ja paks rahakott Skype’ile peatselt võimaluse tegutseda vabalt ka Hiinas.

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