Case Study: Why did EBay’s Acquisition of Skype become a Flop?
Acquisitions and mergers are organizational expansion frameworks that allow companies to gain control of more resources and grow their reach to diverse markets. An acquisition involves obtaining another organization’s shares or resources, and a merger refers to establishing an alliance with aligned goals while sustaining independence. Therefore, though creating a partnership and buying out other companies are effective growth strategies, they have different implications, target specific outcomes, require varying managerial approaches, and do not often succeed. For example, eBay’s acquisition of Skype in 2005 was one of the biggest business flops of the 21st century because they did not investigate the feasibility of their expansion strategy. Although eBay made a sound decision to purchase a fast-growing internet company, its initiatives did not yield fruits because it could not use Skype to enhance its business or facilitate efficiency. In the late 1995, Pierre Omidyar established “Auction Web”, as an online auction Continue reading