Gawker 
Apr 13, 2009 5:45 PM
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Contact information for this author is not available.By Owen Thomas
Luckily, it's found some eager buyers: The founders of the startups it enriched through purchases. Garrett Camp and Geoff Smith (right) have just bought back StumbleUpon, a social-news startup it bought for $75 million two years ago, with the help of some venture capitalists. Janus Friis and Niklas Zennström, the founders of Skype, are hoping to buy Skype for considerably less than the $3.1 billion price eBay paid for the company in 2005.$390 million in the kitty isn't exactly bankrupt. But it's hardly enough to fund eBay's efforts to fix its U.S. marketplace and efforts to expand into consumer credit with Bill Me Later, an online-lending startup it bought last year.
Silicon Valley venture capitalists and entrepreneurs like to think they're putting their resources behind innovation. But what are they doing here? Funding middle America's shopping habits.
(Photo of Zennstrom and Friis via Joost)
read more: #buybacks, #ebay, #skype, #stumbleupon, #garrettcamp, #geoffsmith, #janusfriis, #niklaszennstrom, #acquisitions, #valleywag
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