eBay sells Skype to Silver Lake, Index and others

Almost four years to the day after acquiring Skype, eBay is parting with 65 % at a $2.75 billion valuation. It is an interesting combination of buyers led by technology-oriented private equity firm Silver Lake Partners, Index Ventures' growth fund (one of Index's venture funds was on the selling side four years ago), Andreessen Horowitz (Marc Andreessen is a member of eBay's board of directors) and the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) Investment Board.

While the current valuation of Skype is slightly lower than eBay paid for it, it has been keeping its value much better than the rest of eBay (eBay's share price is down roughly 55 % in the same time period).