Why Skype can't or won't hire a new CEO.

Who wants to run a "beta" program?

I have to laugh when I hear people fretting about the fact that Skype has not hired a new CEO. It is a low priority for some very simple reasons.

Skype has 500 employees as opposed to what, something like 300,000 for AT&T. Most of those 500 are probably marketing and development staff. So ask yourself the question: how many people does it take to actually keep Skype running? Everybody who has the right credentials wants to run a behemoth. And what is a Skype CEO supposed to do anyway, strategically speaking? If I were running Skype I would want plenty of running room to grow the company, but Skype's real growth potential still lies at some distance. It cannot grow faster than the regulatory authorities and the telephone monopolies allow it, and even then it cannot grow faster than the growth of broadband or faster than the growth of 4G wireless, which won't be a reality for a while yet. Skype is already making a huge impact in telecommunications. There is very little it can do to grow faster than it is already growing.

If Skype were any more successful, it would risk a political backlash that would harm it far more than if it maintains a low profile. This is one of the reasons why Skype advertising makes such a huge point of saying that it is not a telephone alternative. The fact is that Skype is afraid of legislation that might inhibit communications carriers that do not offer the "911" feature... something that is infeasible for any true VOIP carrier.

Also, why else would Skype be so lazy about the deployment of SkypeIN? SkypeIN service is available in only 20 countries, and even in those countries the SkypeIN numbers are scarce. Also why does Skypecasting (conferencing) suck so badly? The only explanation to these questions is that Skype does not want to be perceived as a direct competitor to the phone companies. After more that two years, SkypeIN and Skypecasting are still being called "beta" programs. There's a good political reason... because expanding them and giving them quality features would produce a backlash from governments, monopolies, and competitors who cannot compete.

So who cares whether Skype gets a CEO? In spite of its phenomenal growth and its unique profitability in the VOIP community, we must regard the entire Skype business as still "in beta", operating not in a atmosphere of limitless growth potential, but rather hemmed in by issues about which it can do nothing. This is the situation that compells Skype management to sit back and rely upon organic growth rather than pursue it aggressively. It was also the rationale for eBay to write down its Skype purchase... a rational decision from an accounting point of view.

Just imagine what will happen in the telecommunications business when (or if) Skype's regulatory and technological shackles come off.