"The founders’ offer fell on deaf ears"

From the WSJ.com Deal Blog [links and emphases mine]:

A group including KKR, Warburg Pincus, Providence* and Elevation Partners recently teamed up to back the founders of Skype in an attempt to buy back their free Internet calling service from Ebay, according to people familiar with the bid.

Founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis originally approached Ebay about repurchasing Skype, which acquired the service for $2.6 billion in 2005. Ebay encouraged them to make an offer, and the Scandinavian billionaires rounded up a group of private-equity firms to back them, the person familiar with the bid said. News of the Skype’s founders’ offer was earlier reported in the New York Times, but names of the private-equity firms have not yet been reported.

The proposal involved private-equity firms contributing some $1 billion to the deal, according to people familiar with the situation, though a full deal price could not be learned. The transaction also involved Ebay providing financing for the deal.

The founders’ offer fell on deaf ears, as it was well below the price at which Ebay was willing to sell the business. The two sides are far apart and at this stage a deal involving the private-equity firms is unlikely to be completed, said people familiar with the matter.

*I suspect it was Provident Bankshares, not Providence; Provident is about to be purchased by KKR.

So this gets back to valuation. Survey: What's a fair price for Skype?