Ebay inc. Announces first quarter 2007 financial results

The Skype Group was aquired by eBay in 2005. April 18th 2007, they announced their first quarter 2007 financial results. Although there's not much to be found about Skype, there are some interesting things.

You'll find the report right here: http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/ebay/118118263x0x91268/649ccffe-1298-4bd0-ab53-1b33e9f9abd2/eBayIncQ12007EarningsRelease.pdf

On page 2 it says:

Q1-07 was a very productive quarter for Skype, with continued momentum in user growth, and the launch of several new productsintended to build community engagement and fuel Skype monetization over time.Skype net revenues totaled $79 million in Q1-07, a growth rate of 123% over the $35 million reported in Q1-06.Skype had 196 million registered users at the end of Q1-07, representing a 107% increase from the 95 million users at the end of Q1-06.

It's interesting to see how much the actual revenue of Skype has increased within a timespan of a few months. This, probably, can be accounted as a result of their 'new' connection fee of US$0.039.

Online news and weblog Gigaom.com put it this way:

Skype Revenues Up, but Usage Flat
Posted in: Voice

Are Skype’s plans to push users into higher-revenue calling plans starting to take hold? That might be one explanation for a surge in revenue during the past quarter, from $66 million in Q4 2006 to $79 million in the first quarter of 2007, while total minutes of both Skype-to-Skype and Skype-out usage stayed flat.

Here are some quick numbers from the eBay report today, comparing Q4 2006 to Q1 2007:

Revenues: Q4 2006 $66, million; Q1 2007, $79 million
Registered Users: Q4 2006, 171.2 million; Q1 2007, 195.5 million
Skype to Skype minutes: Q4 2006, 7.6 billion; Q1 2007, 7.7 billion
SkypeOut minutes: Q4 2006, 1.5 billion; Q1 2007, 1.5 billionQuick quotes from the call, where eBay said Skype just achieved its first quarter of profitability (!): “Skype continues to grow at a rapid pace… Europe continues to drive [business] and we are pleased with our traction in North America… The adoption of paid subscription plans [in North America] is ahead of our expectations.”

The expiration of free promotions in both the U.S. and Asia, eBay execs said, contributed to the flattening of traffic.