Sofia D. Marin
Newswire21.org

EBay Inc. has settled a lawsuit with Skype co-founders, clearing the way for a $2 billion buyout of the Internet phone company. The deal allows Skype to be sold to a consortium of investors that includes Skype co-founders Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, who will take a 14 percent stake in the company and join the company's board.

In return, Friis and Zennström will withdraw lawsuits their companies Joltid Ltd. and Joost NV have with eBay and members of the consortium. They have also agreed to supply the Joltid software that is essential to the operation of Skype.

The  Skype co-founders had previously been involved in an intellectual-property dispute with eBay, accusing the e-commerce giant of breaching a licensing deal concerning the Joltid technology. Friis and Zennström had sued the entire investor consortium and held onto the software even after they initially sold Skype to eBay back in 2005.

But under the new terms, private equity firm Silver Lake Partners, venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board will together own 56 percent of Skype, while eBay will retain 30 percent of the company. The deal values the whole company at $2.75 billion, and eBay is expected to get about $1.9 billion in cash.

"Skype will now be well positioned to move forward under new owners with ownership and control over its core technology," said eBay Chief Executive John Donahoe in a statement.

While the deal will clear up some messy legal skirmishes, the question will now be how to run Skype.

"There is fighting, and then there is negotiation," Andreessen Horowtiz partner Marc Andreessen told the Wall Street Journal. "We believe it is a plus to have founders involved. They now have a complete alignment of interest."