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This article was published on May 10, 2011

Who makes what from the Skype Microsoft deal


Who makes what from the Skype Microsoft deal

As news continues to filter in about Microsoft’s pending multi-billion dollar takeover of Skype, it’s worth taking a step back to look at some of the numbers we’re talking about here.

A number of figures have been bandied about, and with the official announcement likely to be hours away, it seems that somewhere in the region of $8bn will exchange hands. But who’s hands will get what?

Well, it’s commonly reported that eBay sold Skype two years ago…but it still actually owns almost a third of the company. So, going by that, eBay should make a cool $2.5bn (give or take…) if this sale goes ahead as planned.

Of the remaining $5.5bn, it seems that the Skype co-founders – Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis – were wise to retain a 14% stake in the company, as they should pocket a little over $1bn between them.

The big winners are, obviously, the majority shareholders. Silver Lake, Andreessen Horowitz and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) own 56% of Skype, and will walk away with well over $4.5bn between them.

The investment group initially secured a 65% stake in Skype Technologies from eBay in 2009, which meant they stumped up $1.9bn. Following a law-suit, the co-founders secured their 14% which meant that the investment group only walked away with a 56% stake. But they have more than doubled-up on their initial investment.

What Microsoft does with Skype remains to be seen, but it clearly values Skype and the deal may be a vital step in the company’s plans to keep up with the other major technology pacesetters.

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