News Report 1

News Report 1
“eBay Sells Most Of Skype For $1.9 Billion”
W. David Gardner , InformationWeek
September 1, 2009
http://www.informationweek.com/news/services/voice/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=219500766

A move by eBay (NSDQ: EBAY) to drop its planned IPO and unload control of its Skype Technologies VoIP unit to a group of private investors for $1.9 billion would likely eliminate sticky litigation with Skype's founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, who have been seeking to purchase Skype. eBay will retain a 35% equity position in Skype in the deal, which values Skype at $2.75 billion."Skype is one of Europe's greatest startup success stories," said Volpi Tuesday. "In 2004, we recognized its potential as a global telecommunications leader and we've been captivated by the business since we first invested." In addition to London-based Index Ventures, the investors acquiring Skype include Andreessen Horowitz, a venture capital firm led by Marc Andreessen, a co-founder of Netscape, and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB.) When eBay purchased Skype in 2005 for $2.6 billion and later considerations for a total estimated at $3.3 billion, the online auction company neglected to obtain rights to important underlying software for Skype, whose founders recently initiated litigation against eBay. The peer-to-peer software in question is owned by Joltid, a firm controlled by Skype's founders.
Wow, Skype being sold. I guess money does really talk. Skype has grown to become a program that everyone uses and loves. It’s now install on more than half the new computers being sold. In the article though it looks like there are some legal issues trying to be worked out that eBay forgot to obtain in their purchase of the program in 2005 dealing with software. It seems as eBay didn’t get all the rights for the software. I didn’t know that Skype was developed in Europe and now is world known. Now with eBay selling most of Skype I wonder if you will get the same benefits of the program you got before because everything was actually free and paid for by advertisements. Now the question will someone ever become the sole owner of both the software and programs. Several companies have brought their share of the company. I hope you can get the same benefits and even more with more companies buying into it.