28 Aug 2009
EBay may finally have found a way of offloading Skype, according to a report citing sources closes to the firm.
A number of investors are considering a joint bid of $2bn (£1.22bn) for the VoIP service, including Index Ventures, an early backer of Skype, along with recently launched venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and a number of private equity firms, according to an article in TechCrunch.
Skype has insisted that the reports are nothing more than rumour, and has refused to comment. EBay, meanwhile, is currently in a legal battle with Skype's founders, which is likely to complicate any potential sale.
EBay paid $2.6bn (£1.6bn) for Skype in 2005, and announced in April that it plans a $2bn (£1.22bn) initial public offering sometime next year.
While Skype is doing well and reported a 25 per cent rise in second-quarter revenue this year, eBay has acknowledged that the purchase was a mistake because the two companies have limited synergies.
EBay has argued that, by selling Skype, it will be able to focus on its two core growth opportunities of e-commerce and online payments, and bring more value to shareholders.
Andreessen Horowitz was launched in July by Marc Andreessen, co-founder of Netscape, and friend and collaborator Ben Horowitz. The pair said at the time that they had between $50,000 and $50m (£30,000 and £30m) to invest in a company, depending on its stage and revenue. It would therefore need to partner with billion dollar equity firms to make an offer for Skype.
Skype is involved in legal action with its founder, Joltid, which still licenses the software that allows Skype to run its worldwide telephony system. The case will not be heard until June 2010.
Latest stories from Web
Related videos
Related articles
Related jobs
Poll
Are you confident that the UK's IT infrastructure is secure from attack in the wake of the Flame malware revelations?
V3 examines the key strengths and weaknesses of Samsung's latest iPhone killer
Connect with V3.co.uk
Social networking is almost ubiquitous. This white paper examines the benefits and risks and it looks at the different ways companies can reconcile them
The importance of understanding your infrastructure
Java Developer Thomas Cook Online is the business unit...
Contract Systems Administrator, Southampton My...
PHP Web Developer required to join my market-leading...
Java Developer x2, Spring, Hibernate, Swindon, £40K...
Keep up to date with the latest products, services and technologies from the world's leading IT companies. IThound.com brings you over 2,000 white papers, case studies and analyst reports.
Do you agree?