Skype set to go public

 

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By Nicole Kobie

Posted on 9 Aug 2010 at 15:57

Skype is set to go public, after filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

The SEC filing suggested Skype could make $100 million from the IPO, which will see the firm listed on the Nasdaq.

Auction site eBay bought up Skype in 2005 for $2.6 billion, before selling off most of the VoIP firm last year.

At the time, Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis bought back 14% of the firm they started, with eBay keeping a 30% share and the rest heading to investors - although not to Index Ventures, which were dropped from the sale after the founding pair accused them of stealing trade secrets.

Skype hasn't revealed when the initial public offering will take place, but the filing said it will happen "as soon as practicable".

"The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the offering have not yet been determined," Skype added.

Over the past year, the number of people using Skype has grown 36%, with an average of 124 million people connecting each month. Of those, 8.1 million were paying for premium services, the filing claims.