The Maven: Chaos Brings Opportunity

Said Forbes: "eBay's Skype Internet phone service, which Whitman [as in Meg, the company's less-than-universally loved CEO] said will be a big earner for the company in the future, reported revenue of $50 million for the quarter, up from $44 million."

Compare that little piece of parroting to Rick Aristotle Munarriz from the Motley Fool who is the proud recipient of this week's coveted Business Press Maven "Nod of Approval" award:

"Skype is the third verb in the eBay portfolio. It's the speedster here, yet I am troubled to find that the number of subscribers grew by 20% sequentially while revenue only rose by 13% over its June quarter showing. The company argues that the disparity took place because a lot of the new user growth was in the thriftier Asian region, but that's also not much of a selling point if its greatest growth is taking place where users will be spending less."

The reporter with Aristotle for a middle name (what a byline) then goes on to say that he can't yet side with the cynics, but for Skype to succeed to any real degree long-term, eBay is going to have to do better with it.

I'll see you on that, Aristotle, and even raise you one.

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