EBay has announced that the way has been
clearedfor thesale of a majority share in its Skype internet telephony
serviceto the investor group led by Silver
Lake.
Skype founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis are to be board
members. They are allowed to buy 14% stake of the company.
In exchange, Skype will have ownership of the software
previously licensed from Joltid, also founded by Niklas Zennstrom
and Janus Friis.
Silver Lake and other investors, including Andreessen Horowitz,
will together hold 56% of Skype, while eBay will retain a 30%
stake.
The future of Skype was thrown into uncertainty after its
founders launched a legal battle over rights to the core
peer-to-peer software owned by Joltid.
The investor group no longer includes Index Ventures, whose
partner Michelangelo Volpi was the focus of other litigation over
the Skype deal.
Michelangelo Volpi, who worked for Zennstrom and Friis at a firm
called Joost, was accused of using confidential information to
assemble the buyout team.
The legal disputes have long threatened to scuttle the investor
group's $1.9bn cash deal to buy a majority share in Skype.
"All litigation against eBay, Skype and the investor group ends,
so we'll be free to concentrate all of our efforts on building the
world's greatest communications software," Josh Silverman, Skype
chief executive said in a statement.
Skype earned $185m for eBay in the last quarter. But eBay
decided to sell a majority stake in Skype because it did not
fit with the auction house's core business.
"Skype will be well positioned to move forward under new owners
with ownership and control over its core technology," said John
Donahoe, chief executive at eBay.
"At the same time, eBay continues to retain a significant stake
in Skype and will benefit from its continued growth. We look
forward to closing the deal and focusing on growing our core
ecommerce and payments businesses," he said.
The deal, which values Skype at $2.75bn, is expected to close in
the fourth quarter of 2009.