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Wednesday, November 4, 2009

I Love the Smell of Settlement in the Morning: Skype Founders Set to Get 10 Percent, Option to Buy Three Percent More and Two Board Seats

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According to several sources close to the situation, barring any unforeseen delay, a deal to settle the Skype imbroglio is likely to be announced around the time the markets open tomorrow.

While the massive agreement–which will settle a series of lawsuits waged by Skype’s co-founders–is not yet officially signed, sources said lawyers are apparently putting the finishing touches on the paperwork.

Sources also said that those co-founders–Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis–will get 10 percent of Skype back for rights to key technology they control, an option to pay $83 million for another three percent of the Internet telephony service and two seats on the 23-member board.

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Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Volpi and Index Ventures Out of Skype Deal, the Lawsuit-Happy Founder Twins In

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According to sources close to the situation, Index Ventures and Michelangelo Volpi are out of the deal to buy Skype–and their lawsuit-loving nemeses, the founders of the Internet telephony service, are in.

More details to come, but it’s sure proof that the legal system, such as it was used, works.

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Thursday, October 15, 2009

Volpi and Index Smack Back at Skype Founders With Motion to Dismiss (Plus Filings!)

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The legal high jinks in the contentious battle over the fate of Skype got worse this afternoon, as former Joost CEO Michelangelo Volpi and Index Ventures filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the founders of Skype–Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, via Joost and Joltid–against them.

It’s yet another chess move among a group of well-known tech players, who used to work together closely and are now at odds.

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Wednesday, October 15, 2008

The Entire D6 Interview With IAC’s Barry Diller (2 of 3)

We’re posting all the interviews from the sixth D: All Things Digital conference that took place in late May.

Here’s an interview I did with Barry Diller, the always clever chairman and CEO of IAC, the Internet conglomerate whose holdings include Ask.com, Match.com and many others.

After a bruising court battle with shareholder and cable mogul John Malone of Liberty Media over the last year, Diller finally broke apart IAC six weeks ago. His reason: The company had become too complex and its stock had suffered due to the operating confusion.

This is part two of three parts.

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Tuesday, October 14, 2008

The Entire D6 Interview With IAC’s Barry Diller (1 of 3)

We’re posting all the interviews from the sixth D: All Things Digital conference that took place in late May.

Here’s an interview I did with Barry Diller, the always clever chairman and CEO of IAC, the Internet conglomerate whose holdings include Ask.com, Match.com and many others.

After a bruising court battle with shareholder and cable mogul John Malone of Liberty Media over the last year, Diller finally broke apart IAC six weeks ago. His reason: The company had become too complex and its stock had suffered due to the operating confusion.

This is part one of three parts.

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Tuesday, October 7, 2008

IAC’s Barry Diller Speaks About How Breaking Up Is Hard to Do

Don’t miss this very good interview–does he ever give a bad one?–that IAC/InterActive Corp’s Barry Diller did with The Wall Street Journal’s Shira Ovide in today’s edition.

After a bruising court battle with shareholder and cable mogul John Malone, Diller finally broke apart the Internet conglomerate six weeks ago. His reason: IAC had become too complex and its stock had suffered due to the operating confusion.

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Thursday, June 26, 2008

Winklevosses AboutFacebooked!

Ah, the Winklevosses!

They lost.

In court, I mean, not in rowing!

But I am sad to say BoomTown is deeply uninterested in the long-running legal struggle between Facebook Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and the hot social-networking site and the group affiliated with ConnectU–heretofore referred to by BoomTown as NotFacebook.

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Saturday, December 1, 2007

A Well-Deserved Court Loss for Facebook

It should come as no surprise, of course, given it was essentially a legal temper tantrum on the part of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.
But a judge in Massachusetts wisely denied an inane request by the Palo Alto, Calif.-based social-networking start-up to take down confidential court documents that 02138 magazine had made available for downloading on [...]

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Friday, November 30, 2007

Ironic, Yes, But Zuckerberg’s Privacy Violated

[UPDATED with more information.]

So exactly why did Facebook unleash such a massive legal fury on 02138 magazine yesterday over documents the publication posted online?

Because, said sources, those documents–including an application to Harvard University–contained Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s Social Security number, the full name of his girlfriend and the address of his parent’s house in New York.

Now, apparently, the Beacon’s on the other foot.

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About Kara

Kara Swisher started covering digital issues for The Wall Street Journal's San Francisco bureau in 1997 and also wrote the BoomTown column about the sector. With Walt Mossberg, she co-produces and co-hosts D: All Things Digital, a major high-tech and media conference.

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Ethics Statement

Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.

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