Digitaltopia

Skype is the brain child of the brilliant Swedish programmer Niklas Zennstrom. Kazaa was Zennstrom's first famous project. When legal pressures began to mount he cashed in and sold the program to the company that has since managed to make it the problem child of the file sharing world.

After moving on from the shady world that is file sharing Niklas decided to tackle the emerging industry of Internet telecoms software. Skype is one of if not the front runner so far. It allows users to make free phone calls around the world via the Internet. It already boasts over 48 million users.

Rumors have leaked over the last few days that News Corp was interested in acquiring Skype. News Corp is Rupert Murdoch corporation, that includes Fox. One of the venture capitalist behind Skype had this to say, "I would prefer that it (Skype) remains independent...The company is worth a lot more independent...Skype is in a wonderful strategic position, it's becoming the standard communication platform for more and more people.”

While Skype denies that they are planning to go public or sell the company rumors continue to abound.