Skype Files for IPO
Posted by Jesse Ward on Monday, August 9, 2010 · 
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VoIP provider Skype is preparing for an initial public offering (IPO), according to an S-1 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The Luxembourg-based company estimated the value of the offering at $100 million.
Back in November 2009 eBay sold a 65% stake in Skype to private equity investors for about $1.9 billion. In regards to the IPO, Skype has yet to release who is selling, how many shares will be offered and the price range of said shares. The IPO will be handled by Goldman, Sachs & Co., J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley and a few other financial firms. Once it is completed, the company will be traded on the NASDAQ.
Skype currently boasts more than 560 million registered users; however, only 124 million are active on monthly basis, and 8.1 million are monthly paying users. The average user pays $96 a year for the service. Skype users placed 95 billion calling minutes in the first half of 2010, approximately 40% of which were video calls.
Calls between Skype users are free. The company makes most of its money from SkypeOut, a service which allows Skype users to place landline and cellular calls.
For more, read this press release, and this Gigaom article.
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