Skype Founders and eBay Reach Settlement Ensuring the Company's Future

It's official, the Skype saga is finally over, with all parties involved most likely satisfied with the results, though not exactly thrilled. eBay got rid of Skype, allowing it to focus on its other assets, most notably PayPal, the investors got a nice piece of the VoIP service and Skype's founders also got themselves a small but juicy stake in the company.

The settlement puts an end to months of legal disputes that could have potentially threatened Skype's future entirely. The deal has been rumored for a while now and most of the details have now been confirmed. As expected, Index Ventures is out of the picture, along with Mike Volpi, a partner at the venture capital firm. Volpi had been CEO at Joost, a company owned by Skype's founders, Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, and the two accused him of abusing his position to gain important inside knowledge used then to broker the deal between eBay and the prospective investors.

Skype's founders get a 14-percent stake in the new company in exchange for dropping the three lawsuits related to the VoIP company. As part of the deal, they also cede rights to the Global Index technology, which powers Skype and that was at the heart of the dispute. The two will get representation in the board of directors, but they will also bring to the table a significant amount of money, in the tens of millions of dollars.

This clears the way for the proposed sale of the company, which was announced a couple of months ago. The deal somewhat changes the ownership structure, as the new investors will get 56 percent of the company, as opposed to 65 percent, while eBay will keep a 30-percent stake, as opposed to 35 percent. Skype will still be valued at $2.75 billion in the new deal and eBay will get $1.9 billion in cash and an additional $125 million in the form of a note from the buyer. The deal should close by the end of the year.