"We believe that users that have registered through
MySpace are infrequent users of Skype products," the company said in an S-1 filing with the S.E.C. "We have notified MySpace that we do not intend to renew our contract arrangement with MySpace,
through which users can register through MySpace, when it expires on November 27."
Skype also admits it needs to differentiate its product offers to lessen investor risk. "[W]e have
historically derived a substantial portion of our net revenues from a single product-SkypeOut," the company said. "Due to this dependence on SkypeOut as our primary source of net revenues, we are
subject to an elevated risk of reduced demand for our SkypeOut product."
The Wall Street Journal's Venture Capital Dispatch blog has a rundown of all the numbers, including the nearly
40% of surveyed users who said they use the platform occasionally or often for business-related purposes. "That's an area where Skype hopes to expand in a big way," the blog notes.
As CNet notes, Skype was thought to be gearing up for an IPO late last year "when online auction giant eBay, which had acquired Skype in 2006, sold off
its controlling interest" in the company.
"From what I can tell, Skype has a complicated financial profile, due no doubt to its life inside eBay," remarks Federated Media founder and blogger John Battelle. "But once again, this is a company that, when you
clear out the accounting gymnastics, looks to have a pretty interesting profit potential. And it clearly has scale."