Though tech M&A has been fairly quiet of late because of macro-economic conditions, the rumor mill is churning strong, with Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) in the middle of two rumored deals.
Shares of online travel site Expedia Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) were up more than 2% Wednesday on top of Tuesday's 10% gain on rumors of a potential buyout by Google. Meanwhile, TechCrunch is reviving a rumor from last year that eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) is in talks to either sell Skype to Google or the two sides would form a partnership involving the Internet phone service provider.
When we last wrote about a possible Google buy of Skype in November, we didn't think anything was imminent. After all, eBay would have been selling at a low point, having just announced the unit was underperforming. At that time, Skype's quarterly revenues were $98 million. In its last earnings report, Skype's revenues were reported at $115 million, a 76% increase versus the prior year and a 17% increase quarter-over-quarter. So it's not like Skype is a total disaster.
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