The on-line auction site eBay has announced that the Ebay/Skype lawsuit has reached a settlement, and that the selling of Skype’s controlling interest will continue.

The conflict began when Skype owners expressed their discontent with how eBay was handling their business. During this time eBay proceeded to sell Skype to a group of investors and Skype filed a lawsuit in response.

When eBay purchased Skype in 2005 they failed to purchase a key p2p technology needed to power the service. Still owned by Skype owners they have since threatened to end the licensing that powers the p2p technology.

The settlement will now allow eBay to sell Skype, while still holding 30 percent of the company. Skype owners Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis will own a combined 14 percent, and Skype will now own the key p2p technology it needs to run its service.

Mashable

It was in 2005 that eBay purchased Skype, and despite the fact that they are in the process of unloading the company, its revenue growth has helped boost its third quarter results. In eBay’s third quarter earnings, Skype has shown impressive numbers.

Skype’s registered users grew by 41 percent which now puts its total users at 521 million. Revenues grew 29 percent, totaling $185 million. Free Skype-to-Skype minutes grew 74 percent to 27.7 billion minutes, and SkypeOut minutes grew 44 percent to 3.1 billion minutes. If the numbers continue as they are now Skype should be able to reach its goal of 1 billion annual revenue by 2011.

Along with Skype, PayPal showed impressive numbers as well. They garnered $688 million in revenue, which is up 15 percent. Overall, eBay posted a 6 percent increase in revenue for its third quarter.

TechCrunch

Today eBay made the announcement that it will be selling its Internet phone service Skype. It was sold for a total of $2.75 million to an investor group led by Silver Lake. The E-Auction giant eBay purchased Skype for $2.6 billion in 2005, and after four years have decide it has not provided the synergies they sought.

The Investment group included Sliver Lake, Index Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, and the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) Investment Board. The group will take a 65 percent stake in Skype while the remaining 35 percent will be kept by eBay.

The sale of Skype had been expected for some time now. The New York Times broke the news that eBay was planning to sell Skype on Monday.

CNET