Evan Schuman writes for Ziff Davis Internet on PayPal's recent modification to its pricing for micropayments - defined as purchases typically less than $2.

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BankFirst and Next Estate Communications have announced a master agreement allowing BankFirst's 150+ prepaid card programs to be reloaded at Next Estate Communications' Green Dot(TM) Financial Network retail locations.   » Continue Reading

[Update: eBay has posted on its web site the presentation (PDF) used in its investor call earlier this morning.]

eBay has announced an agreement to acquire Skype Technologies SA for $2.6 billion plus additional performance-based compensation.

The acquisition will strengthen eBay's global marketplace and payments platform, while opening several new lines of business and creating significant new monetization opportunities for the company. The deal also represents a major opportunity for Skype to advance its leadership in Internet voice communications and offer people worldwide new ways to communicate in a global online era. Skype, eBay and PayPal will create an unparalleled ecommerce and communications engine for buyers and sellers around the world.

PayPal and Skype also make a powerful combination. For example, a PayPal wallet associated with each Skype account could make it much easier for users to pay for Skype fee-based services, adding to the number of PayPal accounts and increasing payment volume.

In its press release eBay said the acquisition will be dilutive to earnings for the next year, reaching breakeven on a pro forma (but not GAAP basis) in the fourth quarter of 2006.

• Fortune: Why Skype? EBay's Still Thinking Big
• FT.com: ebay looks to mirror pay-pal’s success
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• Corillian Awarded Global Security Certification
• MoneyGram Selects MessageWay(R) as B2B Gateway Provider
• Rahaxi Processing Oy. Brings New Hypercom Electronic Payment Terminals to Local Businesses
• OTI and Venue1 Implement Mastercard PayPass(TM) With the Seattle Seahawks
• Axalto and Bioscrypt Team Up to Deliver Smart Card-based Biometric Access from Door to Desktop
• Alibaba to set up European headquarters in London
• Lipman Receives Order from the CBORD(R) Group, Inc.
• Optimus Leads the Industry with Fully Outsourced Mobile Content Proposition from End2End
• Newsday: Fraud Reveals Workings of Internet Theft
• Bango enables mobile phone users to pay for content using PayPal
• Banks Plan New IT Purchases to Keep Up with Compliance Laws and Regs
• Wachovia Corporation to Acquire Westcorp and WFS Financial Inc in $3.91 Billion Transaction

Note: This posting is updated regularly throughout the day.