eBay Hangs Up on Skype

eBay (EBAY Quote) shook up the management of its Skype Internet phone business and set a $1.43 billion charge to write down the value of the unit.

eBay said Niklas Zennstrom, who co-founded Skype in 2003 and sold it to eBay two years later in a deal valued as high as $4.3 billion, will become nonexecutive chairman of Skype's board. Henry Gomez, an eBay executive who had been Skype's president, will return to eBay as senior vice president for corporate affairs, eBay said in a press release Monday.

Michael van Swaaij, eBay's chief strategy officer, will become acting CEO until a permanent successor is found. Russell Reynolds Associates is conducting the search for Zennstrom's replacement. ...