Skype Founders Seek to Buy Service Back From eBay

Image via CrunchBase

By BRAD STONE

Published: April 10, 2009

The European duo who created Skype and sold it to eBay for billions may have another trick up their sleeve: buying it back.

Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, the founders of Skype, have approached several private equity firms and are pooling their own substantial resources to make a bid for the Internet calling service, say several people with knowledge of their plans.

The two men sold Skype to eBay in 2005 for $2.6 billion, and later received bonus payouts that increased the final price to $3.1 billion. Since then, Mr. Zennstrom, a native of Sweden, and Mr. Friis, of Denmark, have created the venture capital firm Atomico and backed the online video service Joost, both based in London.

Skype Founders Seek to Buy Service Back From eBay - NYTimes.com

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