eBay announced that a group of venture capital funds and investors will buy Skype in a deal that values the company at $2.75 billion (US). The investor group will buy approximately 65% of Skype with eBay retaining 35% ownership. Skype was acquired by eBay in 2005 for $2.6 billion plus payouts totaling an estimated $3.1 billion in a transaction The New York Times calls “one of the worst technology transactions of the decade.”
TechCrunch reported that a group of venture capital and private equity firms are joining forces in an effort to acquire Skype, a software application and service that enables video and voice calls, instant messaging and file sharing.
In 2005, eBay purchased Skype, but made a huge mistake in the terms of the deal by failing to acquire ownership of the software that defines Skype. Instead, eBay licensed the software from Joltid Limited, a company owned by Skype’s founders. This mistake continues to haunt eBay, who now finds itself in a legal battle over the software licensing, which I covered earlier this month.
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Skype’s Legal Problems
In 2005, eBay purchased Skype for a reported $2.6 billion and now, four years later, eBay is in a legal battle with Skype’s founders over software licensing issues. eBay made a huge mistake in the terms of its Skype purchase. One of the most important components, namely the peer-to-peer communication technology that drives Skype, was not a part of the sale. Instead, eBay licensed the peer-to-peer technology from Joltid Limited.