Skype, an internet phone business, has yet to live up to its promise since being acquired by eBay for $2.6 billion in 2005. Skype's revenues have been surging, but it has not demonstrated how it can benefit eBay's main auction business.

Today, eBay said it would take $1.4 billion in charges because of Skype. About $530 million of the charges are to complete payments related to the 2005 deal.

And perhaps more important, Niklas Zennstrom, one of Skype's co-founders, has stepped down as chief executive. That may be a precusor to a greater integration of Skype into eBay.

Michael van Swaaij, eBay's chief strategy officer, will become acting C.E.O. until a permanent successor is found.