More turmoil ahead for Skype?

 

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By Barry Collins and Reuters

Posted on 14 Sep 2009 at 07:34

Skype is facing further turmoil after a row erupted between the company's new owners and the two men who founded the internet telephony service.

Web TV firm Joost, owned by the founders of Skype, has removed its high-profile chairman Mike Volpi - the man leading the consortium which recently bought Skype from eBay.

Volpi continued as Joost chairman after leaving the chief executive role at the end of June. He then joined the venture firm Index Ventures, which was part of the consortium that paid $1.9 billion to internet auction house eBay for a 65% stake in Skype.

The company and its Board of Directors is conducting an investigation into Mr Volpi's actions during his tenure as CEO and as Chairman

Skype co-founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis had contacted several private equity firms in an effort to launch a bid to buy back their old business themselves.

Now Volpi has been dismissed from Joost, with the web TV firm questioning his conduct. "Mr Volpi was removed from the Board of Directors and from his position as Chairman of Joost by shareholder vote," Joost claims in a statement. "The company and its Board of Directors is conducting an investigation into Mr Volpi's actions during his tenure as CEO and as Chairman."

The row could create enormous problems for Skype's new owners. Zennstrom and Friis launched a court action against eBay earlier this year, claiming the Skype service was infringing their intellectual property. Volpi's involvement in the Skype buyout was thought likely to head off that legal action, given his long-standing relationship with the Skype founders. That relationship now appears to be in tatters.

Earlier this year Joost - an early pioneer in bringing popular TV shows and movies to the web - said it was dropping its consumer service, cutting jobs and losing its chief executive Volpi as it struggles to find revenue to survive. Joost has programing deals with CBS, Viacom and Warner Bros among others.

Joost launched with much fanfare in 2007 as the latest venture of Skype founders Friis and Zennstrom. Before Skype, the Scandinavian entrepreneurs founded KaZaa, a file-sharing service popular with music and entertainment fans for sharing songs and video clips.

Volpi, a former rising star within Cisco joined Joost soon after.