Skype Files for $100 Million IPO

By Geoff Duncan August 9, 2010

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Luxembourg-based VoIP operator Skyype said Monday that is has filed with the United States’ Securities and Exchange Commission to make an initial public stock offering. The company estimated the value of the initial offering will be around $100 million, although that number is an estimate used mostly as a basis for the filing. Skype did not announce a date for the IPO, or say what price it plans to set for its stock.

Industry watchers have been waiting for Skype to announce and IPO ever since the VoIP service regained independence from corporate parent eBay last year.

Skype has indicated that it plans to make a portion of its IPO shares available to its customers, but offered no other specifics.

eBay sold off a major of Skype to a private investment group led by SIlver Lake, Andreessen Horowitz, and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board—combined, the group owns about 56 percent of the company. Another 14 percent went to Joltid, a firm controlled by Skype founders Janus Friis and Nicholas Zennstrom. Ebay retains the remainder of the company.

Skype won’t be the first VoIP company to try an IPO: back in 2006, VoIP operator Vonage launched a high-profile initial public offering that turned into a disaster, as many early investors tried to cash out immediately when the IPO launched, leading to a substantial price drop.

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…

Computing

How to use Skype

microsoft skype meetings office 365 feat

Skype is outstanding. Anyone can download it, and you can use it to chat face to face (so to speak) or make a regular voice call. It’s easy to use, and best of all, it’s free. And who doesn’t love free stuff?
Getting started with the popular calling app may take some getting used to if you’ve never used it before. If you’re a Microsoft Windows 10 user, then this Skype guide is for you.
Getting set up
The first step in using Skype is downloading it and setting up your account. They are two steps that are far easier today than they’ve ever been and will get you well on the way to your first Skype chat or call.

Step 1: Open your browser of choice and navigate to the Skype homepage. Click the big blue Get Skype button, and it will open the corresponding Microsoft store page. Alternatively, open the Microsoft Store yourself by clicking the taskbar icon or searching for “Microsoft Store“ in the search box. When there, search for “Skype” and click the corresponding app page.

Computing

How to share your screen on Skype

skype doubles its group video chat limit to 50 participants people

Skype is one of the best free internet calling apps there is. If you are an avid Skype user, then you can attest to its greatness. But there are many more additional features to take advantage of other than video chatting.

One of the most useful features of Skype is the ability to share your screen on the app. All it takes is a click of a button, and you can invite multiple family members and friends to the conversation.
How to share your screen on Skype (PC)
You’re most likely using the Classic Desktop software if you’re running an OS that’s anything other than Windows 10. Fortunately, Microsoft gives us a unified experience, even between both versions. They look and act the same, so deciding on one version over the other really just comes down to our personal preferences.

Computing

Windows 7 has been dead for a year, but 100 million PCs still use it

Windows 7 Laptop

Despite the end of support for Windows 7, with the operating system no longer getting security updates from Microsoft, millions of people are still holding onto it heading into the end of the year and the start of 2021.

Looking at statistics available for visits to U.S. government websites, as well as data from the firm NetMarketShare, ZDNet reports that approximately 100 million PCs could still be running Windows 7 at the end of 2020. While Windows 10 still shows obvious growth in all the statistics, looking at the numbers, there are still some big holdouts with Windows 7.