Skype could be acquired by venture capitalist and private equity firms

A number of Silicon Valley venture capital and private equity firms are said to be banding together in order to acquire eBay-owned VoIP service Skype, in a deal almost certainly worth over $US2 billion.

According to leading tech blog TechCrunch, the newly formed $US300 million Andreesen Horowitz firm, formed by Netscape founder Marc Andreesen and Hewlett-Packard vice president of business technology optimisation Ben Horowitz, may be involved.

Additionally, Index Ventures, which invested in Skype before it was acquired by eBay, is said to be part of the deal along with at least one multi-billion private equity firm.

The rumours come after eBay said earlier this year it would spin off Skype in an initial public offering during 2010, with chief executive John Donahoe saying at a Barcelona retail conference that eBay would accept no less than $US2 billion for the company.

eBay paid $US2.6 billion for Skype in 2005, a transaction that many tech analysts believe was over-valued at the time.

If the rumoured group makes a bid for Skype, some tech analysts have suggested it would take over the company and go ahead with the eBay-planned initial public offering next year.

Skype reached $US551 million in revenue last year, and eBay said it expects the service to record $US1 billion in revenue by 2011. It currently has over 40 million active users worldwide, and accounts for about 8% of all international voice traffic.

It is unknown whether the rumours relate to the revelation of a licensing dispute between eBay and Skype’s original founders, which could see Skype shut down altogether.

According to a report filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, eBay purchased Skype from Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis during 2005 but did not pay for the technology that Skype requires to operate.

Zennstrom and Friis have now attempted to cancel eBay’s licensing deal for the technology, but eBay has objected and the case is now set to appear before the English High Court of Justice next year. eBay said it would likely have to shut down Skype if the court ruled against it.

“If Skype was to lose the right to use the Joltid software as the result of the litigation, and if alternative software was not available, Skype would be severely and adversely affected and the continued operation of Skype’s business as currently conducted would likely not be possible,” it said.