NEW IPO: The Skype web browser shown on a computer screen in Palo Alto, California. Skype, an Internet calling service, filed for a US initial public offering. - AP
NEW YORK: Skype SA, the Internet calling service that was controlled until last year by eBay Inc, filed for a US initial public offering. Luxembourg-based Skype tentatively put the value of the offering at US$100mil (RM320mil), but that's a rough estimate only used as a basis for calculating the filing fee for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Skype did not say when its shares would go on sale, or at what price. It expects to list on the Nasdaq Stock Market under an unspecified symbol. eBay sold 70% of Skype for US$2bil (RM6.4bil) to an investor group led by private equity firm Silver Lake, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Andreessen Horowitz. The group owns 56% of the company. The remaining 14% is owned by Joltid, a firm controlled by the founders of Skype, Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis. EBay kept a 30% stake.
Friis and Zennstrom sold Skype to eBay for US$2.6bil (RM8.3bil today) in 2005 and left the company in 2007. Between Nov 19, 2009, when it became independent of eBay, and Dec 31, Skype lost US$99.7mil (RM319mil) on US$92.4mil (RM296mil) in revenue, according to the filing with the SEC.Calls between Skype users are free. The company makes most of its money from calls that Skype users place to landline and cellular phones. Skype said a portion of the IPO shares will be made available to its customers, "based on the nature and extent of their relationship with Skype."
Another Internet calling service, Vonage Holdings Corp, offered shares to its customers in its 2006 IPO. That turned into a disaster, as unsophisticated investors jumped at the chance to participate, thinking that they could cash out soon. The shares tanked immediately after going on sale, and have never recovered their value. Lawsuits followed.
want to download skype lah ni :-)
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