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Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, the founders of video telephony software Skype, dropped their suits against Skype owner eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) in exchange for a 14 percent stake in the company and two seats on its board.
The suits, filed in both American and British courts, alleged that eBay - and two private equity firms to which eBay had agreed to sell Skype - were using the software’s underlying code illegally. The code, also created by the two Scandinavians, is owned by a company called Joltid.
As per the dropped litigation, ownership of the Skype source code will be transferred from Joltid to Skype. EBay was not interested in Joltid when it bought Skype in 2005 because Zennström and Friis wanted extra cash for it. Instead, the parties agreed that the code would be licensed to eBay.
But, a year ago, Skype's creators wanted to free it from eBay's shackles. They assembled a group of private investors and pulled together hundreds of millions of their own money. The deal did not work out; when eBay seemed willing to sell Skype to other investors, the two men sued.
Thirty percent of the new Skype will be owned by eBay; an investor group will own the remaining 56 percent.
Skype founders return to the fold as litigation ends
Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, the founders of video telephony software Skype, dropped their suits against Skype owner eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) in exchange for a 14 percent stake in the company and two seats on its board.The suits, filed in both American and British courts, alleged that eBay - and two private equity firms to which eBay had agreed to sell Skype - were using the software’s underlying code illegally. The code, also created by the two Scandinavians, is owned by a company called Joltid.
As per the dropped litigation, ownership of the Skype source code will be transferred from Joltid to Skype. EBay was not interested in Joltid when it bought Skype in 2005 because Zennström and Friis wanted extra cash for it. Instead, the parties agreed that the code would be licensed to eBay.
But, a year ago, Skype's creators wanted to free it from eBay's shackles. They assembled a group of private investors and pulled together hundreds of millions of their own money. The deal did not work out; when eBay seemed willing to sell Skype to other investors, the two men sued.
Thirty percent of the new Skype will be owned by eBay; an investor group will own the remaining 56 percent.
