A group of venture-capital and private-equity firms is working on a takeover bid for Skype, the internet phone service that is being hived off from its owner eBay, the online auctioneer.
The group is believed to include one of Skype’s earliest backers, Index Ventures, as well as Andreessen Horowitz, a US firm set up last month by Marc Andreessen, co-founder of web browser firm Netscape who also sits on eBay’s board.
Sources say the plan is being masterminded by Mike Volpi, a dotcom executive who recently joined Index as a partner and was once a director at Skype.
Skype will be floated in 2010, claimed eBay , with chief executive John Donahoe looking for a $2 billion (£1.2 billion) valuation. It had 405m users last year and grew sales 44% to $551m.
However, the plan and the valuation have been thrown into doubt by a legal dispute with founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis. The company admitted last month that it had begun work on developing new software for Skype because it may lose the licence to some of its technology in a looming High Court battle with the Scandinavian pair.
Volpi, who was briefly a candidate to replace Michael Grade at ITV, hopes his close relationship with Zennstrom and Friis will help to overcome the row. Until earlier this year he ran Joost, their failed internet television venture, which was also backed by Index. However, the duo are believed to be considering their own approach to buy back the business.
They became rich when Skype was sold to eBay for £1.6 billion in 2005. It was later written down in value by eBay by £550m, admitting it had overpaid and that buying goods online had little in common with making cheap calls.
Venture-capital firms such as Index typically make small investments in young companies. Most of the finance for a bid is expected to come from private-equity firms with deeper pockets.
Source
0 Comments