Update: paidContent.org is reporting that eBay CEO John Donahoe says that the company is "still open to other offers" and that he will “maximize the value of Skype. Period." Any "reasonable offers" made between now and 2010 (when the proposed IPO is scheduled) will be evaluated.

This has certainly been a huge week for eBay announcements. First, it was announced that StumbleUpon as being taken back by its founders. Then a similar scenario was announced for Skype. Then eBay announced a ton of changes to its marketplace.

A proposed buyout of eBay’s Skype by the Internet calling services co-founders and a group of private – equity firms is not likely to be completed.

First there were the acquisition rumors, then the acquisition. Then there were the sale rumors.

StumbleUpon is no longer part of eBay. Many have wondered why it was even part of it to begin with, but that pondering can now be put aside. The company has now been returned to its creators for an undisclosed amount.

The founders of Internet telephone service Skype, currently owned by eBay, are interested in buying back the company they sold four years ago.

eBay has plans to purchase a controlling stake in South Korean online retailer Gmarket for $413 million, at a 32.5 percent premium.

The move by eBay would help the online auctioneer to become a significant player in South Korea’s customer- to-customer online market by taking control of its key rival.

ebay will buy a 34.2 percent stake in Gmarket from its current top shareholder Interpark and Korean firm’s chairman, at $24 a share, according to unidentified sources.

The worldwide computer meltdown culprit that never was, Conficker.C, is back, this time as Conficker.E, and is floating along peer-to-peer to networks with one apparent mission: to check MySpace, eBay and other major sites for the time of day.

Just a week after the April Fools Day hysteria surrounding Conficker.C, most have forgotten and gone on. Security researchers, however, have not, and have noted more activity and a possible connection to the spambot Waledac.

eBay has announced it is beta testing its subscription-based Selling Manager service platform that allows third party developers to embed their applications at My eBay where professional sellers manage their business.

The platform is used by 270,000 online sellers in the U.S. to manage their business. eBay says it will no longer charge for its Selling Manager service in an effort to attract third-party developers.

Update: Skype says:

A study sponsored by Dailymotion, eBay, Skype, and Google and YouTube of European Internet users showed that 91 percent expect their ISPs not to block or limit their Internet service and that all legitimate websites and applications receive similar treatment.

Many eBay users will be very quick to point out that they feel eBay has lost its luster (to put it mildly). Some think Google could find itself on a similar path.

BusinessWeek is running an article basically warning Google to avoid such a fate. I think Google has a long way to go before it has to worry about getting to an eBay-type status, but the author makes some valid points.

eBay has announced that starting this week, they will be displaying every listing according to their Best Match sort order, even when they come from the same seller. That means there is no longer a ten-listing-per-customer-per-page limit.

It may be time for investors to stop feverishly disposing of their eBay shares.  Financial firm Collins Stewart has given the online auction company a small nod of approval by upgrading it from "sell" to "hold." 

eBay has been busy announcing changes and fueling speculation around others. According to the WSJ the online marketplace is going back to its roots as an “internet flea market” , as well as moving away from the retail model that Amazon owns and concentrating more on PayPal.

eBay held its 2009 Analyst Day today with CEO John Donahoe speaking on the company’s future. As anticipated, a great deal of focus was put on PayPal.

eBay announced today that starting in early May, inventory from Half.com will become available through eBay.com. The company says it is giving sellers an advance warning 60 days notice.

This could be a move to get people paying attention to the company’s other properties as eBay.com continues to be heavily criticized. They also recently announced more focus on their PayPal property.

The Dow is having an awesome day – it’s up 4.20 percent at the moment – and eBay’s doing even better, up 6.23 percent.  Just the same, most stocks are nowhere close to their 52-week highs, and to address this problem as it relates to employees’ morale, eBay has announced that it would like to pursue a stock option exchange program. 

eBay is holding an annual analyst meeting on Wednesday March 11th. Highlighted at this meeting will be future plans for eBay’s PayPal business.

However bad the world economy gets, the L’Oreal Group’s legal team looks to be safe from layoffs.  L’Oreal, the world’s largest beauty products company, has put all sorts of stuff on the team’s plate, including a new lawsuit against eBay in the UK. 

eBay’s online classified site Kijiji has launched two new features that improve search functions for users.

All Kijiji listings have a thumbnail photo if provided. The site now has a new Gallery View option that allows user to view listings in a larger photo gallery format.