Of course, eBay President and CEO John Donahoe said the deal is "great." It could certainly be seen this way as ever since eBay bought Skype for $3 billion in 2005, it has been considered as one of the worst tech deals in recent years. eBay failed to integrate Skype fully into an echo-system of e-commerce (the marketplace auction business) and online payment system (PayPal) that works to enhance the value of each.

So when Donahoe says "We've acted decisively on a deal that delivers a high valuation, gives us significant cash up-front, and lets us retain a meaningful minority stake with talented partners," I'd venture a guess that many investors would agree with that statement.

Now the question is whether Skype can operate well as a separate company and manage to compete and grow better in that area. Obviously, the buyers would like to believe that it can. Egon Durban, managing director at Silver Lake, said: "Skype is an innovative, next-generation company that has changed how people and businesses communicate with each other." I guess that when you pay over $2 billion for a stake in the company that generated revenues of $551 million in 2008, you'd like to believe that.

Indeed, while the 2008 revenue was a 44% increase compared to 2007, in 2009, revenues are expected to be more than $600 million -- only a 10% growth. The problem is that unlike other growth stories, Skype hasn't really delivered. Perhaps I should say "yet" and it might start showing some of that promise soon as an independent company. I'm not holding my breath.