Down the line

Online auction firm EBay has conceded that it paid too much for internet telephony service Skype - dramatically writing down the value of its investment.

The firm said Skype was worth $900 million (£450m) less than it paid for it and set aside $530m to meet future pay-outs to some shareholders. Together that amounts to a loss of value of $1.43 billion, compared with the $2.6bn paid for Skype in 2005.