By Scott Morrison Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones)—EBay Inc. (EBAY) on Friday announced a settlement to the messy legal dispute that has cast a shadow over its pending sale of a controlling stake in Internet telephony unit Skype. The agreement restructures the investor group that agreed in September to buy 65% of Skype for $2 billion and brings to an end three separate legal cases that put the future of the deal-–and the company’s ability to continue to operate-– n doubt. Under terms of the settlement Skype co-founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis and a company owned by the duo called Joltid Ltd. will join the investor group, making a "significant" capital investment and contributing Joltid software. In return they will get a 14% stake in Skype. Private-equity firm Silver Lake Partners LP and the other buyers will get a 56% stake. Zennstrom and Friis had themselves been interested in buying Skype from eBay before the investor group stepped in. Observers believed their lawsuit against Volpi was designed to force the other parties to include the pair in the new Skype ownership group, which also includes venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. Under terms of the settlement, Zennstrom and Friis agreed to drop their legal cases against Index, Volpi and other investors, and end a previously existing intellectual-property dispute with eBay that put Skype’s continued operation at risk. Shares in eBay were down 1% premarket to $23. -By Scott Morrison; Dow Jones Newswires; 415-765-6118; scott.morrison@dowjones.com
