Ebay Sells Skype. Receives $1.9 billion cash as part of the deal

In a blog post Skype’s John Silverman says:
“The investor group is led by Silver Lake, and includes Andreessen Horowitz, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), Joltid Limited and our founders Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis.”
eBay retains approximately 30% of Skype, and the investor group led by Silver Lake controlling the remaining 70%.
The new owners are Andreessen Horowitz, Index Ventures – which originally invested in Skype – as well as private equity firm Silver Lake and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.
Ebay bought Skype, which allows users to make telephone calls over the internet, in 2005 for $2.6 billion but has admitted since then that it hugely overpaid for the business. The software was developed by the entrepreneurs Niklas Zennström, Janus Friis, and a team of software developers based in Tallinn, Estonia.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published.