Friday, November 20, 2009

eBay Completes Skype Sale

San Jose-based eBay has finally closed its sale of Skype, the firm said late Thursday evening, selling the voice-over-IP service for $2.75 billion to an investor group led by Silver Lake, Joltid Limited, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, and Andreessen Horowitz. eBay said it received $1.9 billion in cash and a note worth $125M from the buyer, and has retained an approximately 30 percent equity investment in Skype. The sale comes after legal battle with Joltid, the firm owned by original Skype founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, over licensing of Joltid's peer-to-peer technology used in Skype. The final deal ousted Index Ventures from the investor list.