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World Business Quick Take

■ Internet
EBay to buy Skype
Online auction giant eBay Inc plans to buy Internet phone service provider Skype Technologies SA for at least US$2.6 billion, the companies announced yesetrday. The deal calls for eBay to pay US$1.3 billion in cash and US$1.3 billion in stock, plus as much as US$1.5 billion in incentives based on performance of the unit. Skype, based in Luxembourg, is expected to add US$60 million of revenue in 2005 and more than US$200 million in 2006, eBay estimated. Founded in 2002, Skype is among the leaders in Internet telephony, allowing users with an Internet connection to make free or low-cost calls. EBay expects Skype's operating margins to range from 20 percent to 25 percent. Skype has 54 million subscribers EBay also said Skype is adding 150,000 users daily.

■ Banking
Citigroup expands in China
Citigroup Inc, the world's largest financial institution, received approval to open its sixth branch in China in Chengdu, as it grabs a slice of the nation's US$40 billion retail banking market. It already operates in Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. The branch, to be opened later this year, will offer foreign-currency products and services to Chinese nationals and foreign residents. "The approval to open a branch in Chengdu is an important development in our plan to expand our franchise to the western region of China,"said Richard Stanley, chief executive officer of Citigroup China, said in an e-mailed statement. Citigroup and other overseas banks are competing for customers with US$165 billion foreign-currency assets in China.

■ Telecoms
China limits PC-to-phone
China Telecom Corp (中國電信), China's biggest fixed-line phone operator, said it and China Netcom Corp (中國網絡通信) are the only companies allowed to operate computer-to-telephone services in the country, after reports Skype Technologies SA had its services blocked. "Under the current relevant laws and regulations of China, `PC to phone' services are strictly regulated and only China Telecom and China Netcom are permitted to carry out some trials on a very limited basis," China Telecom said in an e-mail statement. It declined to comment on Xinhua news agency and Financial Times reports that its unit in Shenzhen had blocked people in that city from using SkypeOut, which lets users make calls to land-line numbers for a per-minute fee. China Telecom plans to eventually block the service, Xinhua said.

■ Automobiles
Germans to make hybrid
German automakers Volkswagen AG, Audi AG and Porsche AG said yesterday at the International Motor Show in Frankfurt they would work in tandem to develop a new fuel-efficient hybrid engine for their automobiles. Complete details of the new program weren't revealed, nor was a timeline, but the move comes less than a week after BMW AG said it would join with General Motors Corp and DaimlerChrysler AG to develop their own hybrid engine. Audi, a part of Wolfsburg-based VW, Europe's biggest automaker, said it would take the lead in the development of the new hybrid. GM and DaimlerChrysler finalized their own hybrid partnership last month. Under that agreement, GM is the lead designer of hybrid engines for rear-wheel and all-wheel-drive, full-size trucks and sport utility vehicles, front-wheel-drive cars and crossover vehicles.

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