As the parties involved are working on a settlement deal

Nov 4, 2009 08:58 GMT  ·  By
The parties involved in lawsuits surrounding Skype are working on a settlement deal
   The parties involved in lawsuits surrounding Skype are working on a settlement deal

Skype's legal troubles may finally be heading towards a resolution, as the parties involved are closer to a settlement. But, as expected, there are a couple of concessions that the company had to make in order to make things work. The agreement is between Skype's founders, the ones behind all of the lawsuits, and the group of private investors that bid to acquire the VoIP service from eBay and it involves the founders getting a stake in the new company. Interestingly, Index Ventures, one of the proposed investors, is out and so is Mike Volpi.

The talks haven't been made official yet, but they have been confirmed by several sources. The New York times claims that a settlement may be announced as soon as this week and that the two co-founders have gotten what they most likely wanted, representation on the board, but also a big chunk of the newly formed company. It's unclear what stake they will get, but the settlement does involve all of the lawsuits surrounding the company and the undergoing sale.

Most likely a part of the deal, Index Ventures, one of the investing companies interested in Skype, won't continue its bid. This is interesting, as it was the firm that actually put together the group of investors that made the $1.9-billion offer for a 65-percent stake in Skype, but it was somewhat to be expected, because of the involvement of Mike Volpi, who is a partner at Index Ventures, but also the former CEO of Joost, a company owned by Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis Skype's founders.

Volpi was accused by Skype's founders of using knowledge acquired while at Joost to help Skype bypass a piece of technology licensed from JoltID, another company owned by the two entrepreneurs, which is crucial to Skype's operation. This license is the center of two additional lawsuits between eBay and the two that have been dragging for several months. These suits were most likely just a way to coerce eBay into taking their offer for Skype and it seems that the method has worked.