eBay Completes Sale of Skype Unit to Investor Group

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 20, 2009 - 9:34am.

San Jose, Calif. - Nearly three months after first announcing the deal, online auction giant eBay (NASD: EBAY) said that it has completed the sale of a majority stake in its Skype Internet telephone business to an investment group headed by Silver Lake Partners. Under the deal, the investor group -- which also included Joltid Limited, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Andreessen Horowitz -- paid $1.9 billion and a $125 million note in exchange for a 70% stake in the unit.

eBay retains a 30% stake in Skype, which it paid more than $3.1 billion to acquire in 2005.

The business, however, never found a foothold with the company's core online auction site.

The deal will bring the original creators of Skype -- peer-to-peer technology developers Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis -- back to the company. The pair's other projects have included Kazaa and Joost.

Related Links:
http://www.ebayinc.com/news#20091119006361

http://www.skype.com