eBay completes sale of Skype

eBay has finally completed the sale of Skype to investment group Silver Lake, while Skype’s founders, Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, will receive a 14% stake in the company.

Silver Lake will take a 6% share of the company while eBay will retain 30%.

eBay will receive $1.9 billion from the deal.

The deal was only able to go through after Zennstrom and Friis dropped legal proceedings against Skype for an alleged copyright infringement on their technology.

eBay purchased Skype for around $2.6 billion in 2005, but decided to sell because the company has limited synergies with its existing operations.

Skype recently announced that it is in talks with mobile handset and network companies to install its Internet telephony service, including potential partners in China.

Story link: eBay completes sale of Skype