Meg Whitman : Oops. I lost US$1.4 billion today. Sorry.

EBay today announced a US$1.4 billion write-off for its Skype unit, purchased for US$2.6 billion 2 years ago. See Business Week, San Jose Mercury News

I'm not one for adding to the chorus of "I-told-you-so" by analysts and commentators, but as a Yahoo insider at the time, it always felt like the purchase was a panicky "we-gotta-do-something" response to Yahoo's encroachment into the auctions space in China through their investment in AliBaba and its TaoBao auctions unit.

I was always in two minds whether the Skype purchase was a defensive move to prevent Yahoo and Google from acquiring Skype and consolidating their online messaging dominance or just a raw emotional response along the lines of, "You attack my territory in China, I will attack yours"(maybe both).

In any case, what an expensive decision. (And the only head rolling is the happy founder!)