A round-up of other business news in brief...

Ebay to unload Skype service

Online auction group Ebay yesterday agreed to unload 65 per cent of its Skype internet phone service to a group of private investors for $2 billion (€1.4 billion) in cash and debt.

The deal ends a strategic mistake that clouded the final years at the company of Meg Whitman, Ebay’s former chief executive.

Ebay said it would receive $1.9 billion in cash and a $125 million debt instrument from the buyers, ending its plan for an initial public offering of Skype.

Skype is set to be one of the biggest and fastest- growing private internet groups. It had revenues last year of $551 million, up 44 per cent from the previous year, while registered users expanded by 47 per cent to 405 million.

The investor group is led by Silver Lake, Silicon Valley’s most prominent technology private-equity firm, and includes two venture-capital firms. One of the financiers, London-based Index Ventures, was an initial backer of Skype. The other, Andreessen Horowitz, was co-founded by Marc Andreessen, a founder of Netscape and also a director of Ebay. – (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009)

July jobless rate in euro zone at 9.5%

Euro zone unemployment hit a 10-year high of 9.5 per cent in July and is expected to rise further, denting hopes that consumer spending will boost growth.

The jobless rate in the 16-country euro currency area in July climbed to its highest since May 1999 as the number of people without work rose by 167,000 from June to 15.09 million, the EU’s statistics office said.

The rise in joblessness was highest in Ireland, Spain and in France.

In Belgium, unemployment eased. – (Reuters)

Lending to Britons hits record low

Net lending to Britons in July fell at its sharpest pace since records began in 1993, even as the number of mortgages approved rose to its highest since April 2008, Bank of England figures showed.

The figures suggest that many Britons are choosing to pay down their debt as the economic downturn persists, and that banks remain wary about extending new lending, despite the BoE’s efforts to get cash flowing around the economy.

The number of mortgage approved for home purchase rose to 50,123 in July from 47,891 in June, slightly below analysts’ forecasts of 51,000.

Unemployment falls in Germany

German unemployment unexpectedly fell in August for the second month in a row, aided by government measures designed to prevent mass layoffs ahead of the federal election on September 27th.

A government scheme to subsidise part-time work and statistical changes helped push joblessness down by 1,000 on the month, adjusted for seasonal swings, federal labour office data showed.

The fall followed a dip of 5,000 in July and contrasted with a consensus forecast for a rise of 30,000. – (Reuters)