Andreessen Horowitz Bullish on Skype

On Tuesday, it was announced that a group of investors led by Silver Lake and including Index Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, bought a 65 percent stake in Skype for $1.9 billion in cash, with eBay maintaing a 35 percent stake in the company.

Gigaom reports the estimated amount that each member of the group contributed:

• Silver Lake: $1.48 billion;
• Canada Pension Plan Investment Board: $300 million;
• Index Ventures: $70 million;
• Andreessen Horowitz: $50 million.

While Andreessen Horowitz made the smallest contribution, the sum represents a sixth of the fund’s available $300 million. The fund makes investments ranging from $50,000 to $50 million, $50 million being the cap on how much the fund will invest in a single company, according to TechCrunch. This relatively large investment and the fact that Andreessen Horowitz was willing to deviate from its stated goal of investing in early stage startups shows their confidence in Skype, which generated revenues of $551 million in 2008 and continues to grow.