Though tech M&A has been fairly quiet of late because of macro-economic conditions, the rumor mill is churning strong, with Google Inc. [GOOG] in the middle of two rumored deals.

Shares of online travel site Expedia Inc. [EXPE] were up more than 2% Wednesday on top of Tuesday's 10% gain on rumors of a potential buyout by Google. Meanwhile, TechCrunch is reviving a rumor from last year that eBay Inc. [EBAY] is in talks to either sell Skype to Google or the two sides would form a partnership involving the Internet phone service provider.

When we last wrote about a possible Google buy of Skype in November, we didn't think anything was imminent. After all, eBay would have been selling at a low point, having just announced the unit was underperforming. At that time, Skype's quarterly revenues were $98 million. In its last earnings report, Skype's revenues were reported at $115 million, a 76% increase versus the prior year and a 17% increase quarter-over-quarter. So it's not like Skype is a total disaster.

While a sale would not be a bad thing, especially if eBay could recoup the $3.1 billion it spent on the property, a partnership appears to make more sense. With more than 276 million registered users at the end of 2007, Skype holds a lot of potential, but it just may need some help monetizing that user base. Google could potentially do a much better job of it.

An acquisition of Expedia potentially would carry a price tag more than double that of Skype's, though that wouldn't be a problem for cash-rich Google. Trading at $24.85 on Wednesday, Expedia sports a market capitalization of $7.1 billion. Travel would be a natural area for Google to move into as it expands its platform and Expedia would be a good fit. But the rumor seems somewhat tenuous as it emanated from news that Google would be integrating a travel booking feature from Expedia in its Google Maps offering. - David Shabelman 

See April 2 post from Silicon Alley Insider
See April 2 post from The Boot
See April 1 post from TechCrunch
See November 2007 post from Tech Confidential