The golden boy of internet telephony, Skype, has been sold by its previous owners eBay, to a group of private investors. Specifically, eBay is selling 65 percent of the company to a group that includes Silver Lake, Index Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz and the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) Investment Board. 

 

Earlier in 2005, eBay had purchased Skype for $3.1 Billion, hoping to "create an unparalleled ecommerce and communications engine for buyers and sellers around the world with Skype, eBay and PayPal". Ironically, that was not to be, as eBay never could exploit the possible synergies between its online marketplace and Skype's VOIP capabilities and  ended it on the note of “Skype is a strong standalone business, but it does not have synergies with our e-commerce and online payments businesses.”

 

All this has happened against the backdrop of continuous growth by Skype as a stand alone product. A few months ago it was reported that Skype has become the largest provider of cross-border voice communications in the world. Apart from being god sent for end consumers who can now communicate for free with relatives and friends around the world, it has increasingly making inroads into the business segment. Its recent "Skype for business" contest revealed innovative ways in which companies are using Skype to augment domestic and international operations. HyperOffice won the contest for North America.