Skype Rolls Out New Biz Service

(NEWSER) - The European wunderkinds who gave the world Skype have been approaching private equity firms in an attempt to buy their creation back from eBay, the New York Times reports. Niklas Zennstrom of Sweden and Janus Friis of Denmark sold the Internet phone service for $2.6 billion in 2005, but analysts think they could buy it back for about $1.7 billion. More»

Millions of updates, reboots fried VOIP service, company says

(NEWSER) - Skype's mysterious failure last week was caused by a routine Windows update, the company says. Millions of users downloaded the new software, rebooted their computers, and tried to log into Skype at the same time, crashing the net phone service, PC World reports. It's still unclear why previous Windows updates didn't do the same thing, however. More»

Meanwhile, Google holds talks with Skype for joint venture

(NEWSER) - Skype is suddenly the prettiest girl in school now that it’s pushed back its IPO. Google is in talks for a joint venture with the online calling company, and Facebook is considering buying it outright, sources tell Reuters . Skype is expected to rake in about $1 billion if it goes public, but Facebook could pay $3 billion to $4 billion for the company, according to someone with “direct knowledge of the discussions.” More»

Also, the real target is Facebook, not Skype

(NEWSER) - With Google rolling out an initiative to allow Gmail users to make and receive calls , Jessica Dolcourt of CNET decided to give it a spin and found that it was ... pretty good. "We were pleased with the call quality, overall, which we tested with other US callers using landlines and mobile phones," she writes. There were garbled voices and a buzzing sound at times, but in general "calls were loud and mostly clear." So is this a Skype killer? Way too early to tell, but the sheer convenience of the service is a strong selling point, she writes. More»

Techies alleges copyright violation costing them $75M a day

(NEWSER) - The founders of Skype are suing eBay and the investor consortium buying the Internet phone company, accusing them of copyright violation, reports the Wall Street Journal. The suit is only the latest bump in eBay's disastrous ownership of Skype and may complicate the planned $2 billion sale. Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom allege that their new company, Joltid, owns a peer-to-peer technology that is also used in Skype's software and claims it is suffering damages "of more than $75 million daily." More»