14 DAY TRIAL // The Skype deal proves to have some messy complications, at least for some. Yesterday, Joost, the troubled online video company, announced that it outed former CEO Michelangelo Volpi from his latest position as chairman of the board. What does this have to do with Skype? Volpi is now general partner at Index Ventures, one of the investment companies behind the new Skype deal, while Joost is owned by Skype’s founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, who are engaged in a lawsuit with eBay regarding some technology used by the VoIP service.
Last week, eBay sold a 65 percent stake in Skype to a number of private investment companies for $1.9 billion in cash. The Internet-based company had been trying to dump Skype after its initial plans failed to come to fruition.
eBay bought Skype for $3.1 billion in 2005 with the intention of integrating its technology with the auction site. Earlier this year, eBay announced it planned to spin-off Skype in an IPO sometime in 2010 but there were rumors that the company would rather sell the VoIP service, which is what eventually happened.
However, eBay's IPO plans were complicated by a lawsuit filed by Joltid, a company also owned by Skype's founders, who parted with eBay in less amicable terms, which hold the rights to a peer to peer technology powering important components in Skype. The suit is still pending and it’s unsure how it affected the new deal as well.
It was believed that Volpi's involvement with Joost, as well as position at Index Venture would perhaps help smooth out the legal issues between Skype and its former owners but this new development makes it less likely. Joost would not comment on the reason for his removal from the board of directors beyond that it's “conducting an investigation into Mr. Volpi’s actions during his tenure as CEO and as Chairman.”