Just shy of two years to the day that eBay acquired Skype in 2005, the auction giant announced today that Skype co-founder and CEO Niklas Zenstrom is stepping down to become non-executive chairman of the Skype Board of Directors. Ebay's Chief Strategy Officer, Michael van Swaaij, will serve as interim CEO until a permanent replacement can be found.
The acquisition deal in October 2005 gave Skype shareholders the option of taking a lump sum of cash and stock, or taking some cash and stock while holding out for a performance-based earn out. It would seem the latter option—chosen by 58% of Skype shareholders—will pay off handsomely. In addition to the $2.5 billion in cash and stock eBay paid upfront for the acquisition, it said today it expects to pay an additional $1.4 billion as per the terms of the earn-out.
