It has finally come to a conclusion: eBay gets to spin-off Skype, the founders are coming back, the P2P technology that runs Skype will be merged into the corporation, and Index Ventures is out of the picture.
The deal breaks down as follows: eBay will own 30% of the company, the founders will own 14%, of which they paid $84 million for 4%. The rest of their stake is part of the settlement, and payment for Joltid. Joltid is the underpinnings of Skype that make it tick, and was the root of the latest round of lawsuits.
The rest of the equity goes to the investors who are putting up nearly all the money.
eBay has had its total ownership reduced from 35% of the new Skype. This concession was assuredly not what eBay wanted, but it seems a small price to pay for Skype move past its legal quandaries.
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Skype is now safe for its millions of users. There will be no service interruptions, at least stemming from legal problems.
With Skype on its own, do you think that they will perhaps be more aggressive in their pricing? The investors putting up the cash for the deal are going to be looking for a favorable exit, and that means expanding revenue. We might start paying a bit more?
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