Skype Files for IPO, Will List on NASDAQ

16 Years Ago Glass_Joe 0 347 Views

Skype, the Luxemborg-based internet video phone service, filed for its initial public offering (IPO) on Monday (August 9) to list on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The value was tentatively set at $100 million, a number analysts suggest is merely a rough estimate set to help the Securities and Exchange Commission calculate a filing fee. They have yet to release a sales date or price.

The filings reported that in 2010, Skype has already generated more than $406 million from its over 560 million registered users, up 41% year-over-year. These numbers are staggering considering that only 6% of its users actually pay for the service and that Skype makes the majority of its money from users calling landlines or cellular phones. The report also states that users have collectively made more than 95 billion minutes of voice and video calls and have sent more than 84 million SMS messages so far in just half a year.

EBay bought Skype in 2005, selling 70% of its ownership four years later in September 2009 for $2.75 billion dollars to the private equity firm Silver Lake Partners. The firm currently owns 56% of that share; the remaining 14% is owned by the firm Joltid, controlled by Skype foudners Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis.

While free Skype-to-Skype calls are an enticing way to draw in customers, the company’s intentions moving forward are to build upon its stellar growth and concentrate on turning these users over into paying customers. New investment strategies include:
[INDENT]"Develop new monetization models, including advertising. Our users made over 152 billion minutes of Skype-to-Skype calls in the twelve months ended June 30, 2010. We believe this represents a meaningful opportunity to increase our revenue from alternative monetization models, including advertising, gaming and virtual gifts."[/INDENT]
Skype's biggest break came when it reached an agreement with Verizon Wireless back in March for data services charges. Mobile providers were extremely apprehensive of a service that would essentially allow their users to bypass voice minutes, until Verizon softened up to the idea after realizing just how lucrative an investment mobile data service charges truly are.

EBay estimates that Skype will reach over $1 billion in revenue by the end of the fiscal 2011.

Dani AI

Generated 9 Months Ago

A brief historical update and practical angle on the IPO chatter posted by : the public listing did not become the long-term outcome. Skype was acquired by Microsoft in 2011, which redirected product and monetization priorities away from an independent consumer IPO path and into the Microsoft ecosystem. (news.microsoft.com)

For digital-marketing and e-commerce planning that grew from the 2010 conversation, the key takeaway is how product ownership drives opportunity. After the acquisition Microsoft pushed deeper enterprise integration (Lync → Skype for Business) and later consolidated consumer features into Microsoft Teams—moves that changed where ad dollars, developer APIs, and commercial integrations lived. Marketers evaluating VoIP-based campaigns or in-app calling needed to track platform-level shifts (consumer vs. enterprise) rather than treating Skype as a standalone ad or audience channel. (blogs.microsoft.com)

Technical, immediately actionable guidance for merchants and app teams: integrate a click-to-call method that works across desktop and mobile, but plan fallbacks and tracking. Skype supported simple URI links such as the example below (works only if a Skype client is present):

<a href="skype:echo123?call">Call the Skype Echo / Sound Test Service</a>

Use the official Skype URI approach for launching calls/chats from webpages or apps, and add a monitored HTTP fallback (phone number or WebRTC widget) for users without a client. Also follow Skype/Microsoft brand and usage rules when placing buttons. (learn.microsoft.com)

A late-stage note for anyone reading this years later: Microsoft announced retirement of the consumer Skype app in 2025 and migration toward Microsoft Teams (Teams Free for consumer use), so any new integrations in 2025+ should prioritize Teams or cross-platform WebRTC approaches rather than depending on Skype as the primary channel. (microsoft.com)

Glass_Joe 68 Junior Poster in Training

16 Years Ago

My apologies readers of Luxembourg; I spelled your name wrong. Oops!

Jashandeep -5 Junior Poster in Training

14 Years Ago

Its a very useful software in these days .I appreciate you to share such a info with all.

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