After taking the helm from Meg Whitman in 2008, eBay CEO John Donahoe admitted there were no synergies with the Skype subsidiary his predecessor had overpaid for, but insisted that it was not a distraction. That changed this summer when eBay revealed it was embroiled in a dispute with Joltid, from whom it licenses Skype technology. According to some reports, tensions had escalated when Skype founders, who own Joltid, were rebuffed when they tried to buy back the company from eBay.
This month it finally appeared eBay was getting rid of what had become a problem child when it signed a definitive agreement to sell 65 percent of Skype to an investor group led by Silver Lake and including Index Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz and the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) Investment Board.
But on Wednesday, according to the Wall Street Journal and Times Online, Skype founders sued eBay and the investors, demanding billions of dollars in damages for violating copyright law.
eBay's blogger tweeted the company's official response to the lawsuit news on Wednesday: "Their allegations and claims are without merit and are founded on fundamental legal and factual errors. We remain on track to close the transaction in the fourth quarter of 2009."
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After taking the helm from Meg Whitman in 2008, eBay CEO John Donahoe admitted there were no synergies with the Skype subsidiary his predecessor had overpaid for, but insisted that it was not a distraction. That changed this summer when eBay revealed it was embroiled in a dispute with Joltid, from whom it licenses Skype technology. According to some reports, tensions had escalated when Skype founders, who own Joltid, were rebuffed when they tried to buy back the company from eBay. 