Skype Founders Might Buy Back Firm From eBay
This story was written by Joseph Tartakoff.
Skype's two founders have joined a growing list of suitors possibly interested in buying the service from eBay (NSDQ: EBAY). The New York Times (NYSE: NYT) reports that Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, who sold Skype to eBay four years ago for $2.6 billion, are trying to raise money to repurchase the firm. As the paper notes, new eBay CEO John Donahue has seemed to imply that he is willing to sell the calling service, referring to it as a "great stand-alone business."
eBay has an unsettled relationship with Zennstrom and Friis. The company sued them and a company they control, Joltid, last week after they tried to terminate a license for the peer-to-peer infrastructure behind Skype. The New York Times suggests that the lawsuit could actually give Zennstrom and Friis an edge in any discussions, since it could deter other interested parties from making a bid.
By Joseph Tartakoff