New Fund, New Insights on the Skype Boys

Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis have to be considered tech superstars. The latest is that they're raising a $450 million fund for tech investments -- $100 million of it from Zennstrom and Friis, who have that kind of money because of their sale of Skype to eBay for $2.6 billion in 2005.

The pair first created Kazaa and cracked open music file-sharing. Next came Skype, and then Joost. (Which I wrote about earlier this year.) Few entrepreneurs ever have that kind of serial success. So it's worth watching what they do next.

However, there's a bit of new information about these guys tucked into Portfolio's interview with ex-eBay CEO Meg Whitman -- not in the magazine version, but in the extended version I posted here last week. Not many people noticed it, but Meg totally dissed Niklas and Janus, implying they had been more trouble than they were worth post-merger.

Her comment, in reply to a question about whether the Skype purchase was worth it:

"There's no question in the first couple of years we struggled with management. We struggled with integrating a company in London into San Jose. And ultimately last year we made a number of changes. We bought out the earn-out (meaning: bought out the contractual reason for Niklas and Janus to stay), and changed out management. It will be interesting to see, but I think we will be proven right here."

From comments Niklas made to me when he was still with eBay, it was important to him that Skype keep a sense of independence and its own culture and brand. I get the sense that went too far for Meg's taste. Niklas and Janus are probably a lot better at starting little companies than being managers in big ones.

Credit: Gerard Cerles/AFP/Getty Images

. □