Luxembourg and San Francisco, April 11, 2006 – Skype™, the global Internet communications company, today announced that it has acquired Sonorit Holding AS and its US subsidiary Camino Networks, Inc., a provider of voice technology for the Internet. The acquisition will allow Skype to add some of the leading experts in online voice engineering to its own team of technologists to help design and develop Skype for the future.
“We’re excited about bringing the talented Camino Networks team to Skype,” said Niklas Zennström, Skype CEO and co-founder. “They will add considerable expertise to our own world-class technology team.”
“Camino Networks is focused on innovating for next-generation voice services,” said Jonathan Christensen, President and CEO of Camino Networks, Inc. “Joining Skype gives us access to the best platform for bringing our technology to users.”
Skype, an eBay company, has agreed to acquire all outstanding securities of Sonorit for approximately 700,000 shares of eBay stock. Based on the stock price as of April 10, 2006, the transaction is valued at approximately $27 million. eBay expects the acquisition to be immaterial to its full-year 2006 earnings per diluted share, as issued in connection with its first quarter earnings release on January 18, 2006.
About Sonorit
Based in San Francisco, with additional offices in Aalborg, Denmark, and Stockholm, Sweden, Sonorit, and its US subsidiary Camino Networks, is a start-up company building unique solutions for high quality speech processing, coding, and transmission for the next generation of Internet-based networks.
About Skype
Skype is the world’s fastest-growing Internet communication offering, allowing people everywhere to make unlimited voice and video communication for free between the users of Skype software. Skype is available in 27 languages and is used in almost every country around the world. Skype generates revenue through its premium offerings such as making and receiving calls to and from landline and mobile phones, as well as voicemail and call forwarding. Skype also has relationships with a growing network of hardware and software providers. Skype is an eBay company (NASDAQ: EBAY). To learn more visit skype.com.
Skype is not a replacement for your ordinary telephone and cannot be used for emergency calling.
Forward-Looking Statements
This announcement contains forward-looking statements regarding Skype, Sonorit and the expected impact of the acquisition of Sonorit on eBay's financial results. Those statements involve risks and uncertainties, and actual results could differ materially from those discussed. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, rapid technological changes in the Internet voice communications sector, the reaction of competitors to the transaction, and the possibility that integration of Sonorit’s offerings with those of Skype following the transaction may be more difficult than expected. More information about potential factors which could affect eBay's business and financial results is included in eBay's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2005, and current reports on Form 8-K. All forward-looking statements are based on information available to eBay on the date hereof, and eBay assumes no obligation to update such statements
