eBay has gone on the record saying that they will sell Skype if they fail to find ways of using Skype to support its core ecommerce business.

Richard Waters at the Financial Times got the scoop directly from eBay’s CEO John Donahoe:

“What we’re testing this year are the synergies,” Mr Donahoe told the Financial Times this week after Ebay reported its latest earnings. “If the synergies are strong, we’ll keep it in our portfolio. If not, we’ll reassess it.” That could lead to the disposal of the business, he indicated.

eBay purchased Skype 3 years ago and has failed to find ways of using Skype across its other products in this time, so it is unlikely that miracles will start happening for Skype in the next 8 months. A sale is likely late this year or in the first half of next year.

The news comes despite strong Q1 figures for Skype and others reports suggesting a Google buyout or alliance may be in the works.