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Skype founders want the company back

11 April 2009 18:48 by James "Dela" Delahunty | 2 comments

The original creators of the Skype VoIP Internet communication network are reportedly seeking to buy the company back from eBay. Niklas Zennstrom, from Sweden, and Janus Friis, from Denmark, founded Skype in 2003 and sold it to eBay just two years later for $2.6 billion. The New York Times is reporting that they are now seeking to raise a billion dollars from private equity firms to re-claim their creation.

eBay is reported to be expecting no less than $1.7 billion for the company. Skype made $145 million in revenues for the fourth quarter of 2008. It boasts 405 million users, up sharply from the 53 million registered users at the time of its sale. It is used mostly for free user-to-user calls as opposed to premium services it offers.

John Donahoe, eBay's chief executive, has "repeatedly signaled his willingness to sell Skype for the right price," according to the Times. Recently Skype launched an application for the Apple iPhone, allowing iPhone users to take advantage of the service.

Permalink to this article

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eBay to sell majority stake in Skype (1 September 2009)

Symantec warns about public release of Skype-recording Trojan code (1 September 2009)

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Researchers warn of P2P 'guilt by association' attack (10 April 2009)

FCC asked to investigate Skype on iPhone (6 April 2009)

Skype now officially available on iPhone (30 March 2009)

Skype integration headed to Nokia, Ericsson phones (18 February 2009)

PSP Skype headset coming to the US (9 May 2008)

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Discuss this article!
H0bbes (Junior Member) 12 April 2009 23:57
Well sure they want it back, wouldn't you now that it could be making money? An iPhone deal, plus Blackberry in the works. I'd be asking for a piece if I were in their shoes. [ + quote]
avoidz (Junior Member) 17 April 2009 10:10
$2.6 billion wasn't enough? [ + quote]