The rumor mill is churning strong around Google and two rumored deals.

Shares of online travel site Expedia (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.

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.

Post from David Shabelman with some modifications