SWEDEN - KKR et al. back buy-back of Skype

eBay is thought to be willing to sell the business for a price tag of around £1.14bn, but the two sides are said to be far apart on the issue. The private equity groups are said to be contributing around $1bn to the deal, with the vendor also reported to be providing a loan.

eBay purchased Skype for $2.6bn in 2005 from its venture backers Bessemer Venture Partners, DFJ, Draper Investment, Index Ventures and Mangrove, in a deal that earned the exiting investors returns multiples of between 40-300x. In 2007, it took a $1.4bn writedown on the asset.

Skype allows users to phone friends and relatives across the world for free. It has more than 405 million registered users, and achieved revenues of $145m in the fourth quarter of 2008.

According to reports, other potential buyers include Google, AT&T and Verizon.

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Buyouts
• Nordics