Founder of Skype: Who is Niklas Zennström?
He is a famous engineer, born in 1966 in Sweden. He is an e-commerce entrepreneur who has founded various Internet businesses, notably Kazaa, Skype and Joost. Zennström holds a degree in Business Administration from Uppsala University.
He has a master's degree in computer units and physics engineering. In 1991, he started working at Tele2, a Swedish-based telecommunications company.
Niklas Zennström, Zennström, and Janus Friis founded Kazaa, a P2P (peer-to-peer) file-sharing application, in 2000. Niklas served as CEO, and the program was the world's most downloaded Internet software in 2003. Kazaa was sold to Sharman Networks after being sued by members of the music and movie industry in the US.
Zennström later became CEO of Joltid, a software company that develops and markets P2P solutions and traffic optimization technologies. Zennström also established Altnet, the world's first secure P2P network that integrates the promotion, distribution and payment of digital content, promoting commercial content to consumers.
Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis
Zennström's most important achievement to date is the founding of the Skype company based on P2P principles. This application, which has signed an innovation in the field of technology, was purchased by eBay in 2005. Zennström remained CEO from Skype's inception until September 2007. During this time, Skype has become the world leader in Internet voice communications, with over 309 million registered users. In May 2011, Skype was acquired by Microsoft for $8.5 billion. Zennström and Friis reportedly earned approximately $1 billion from the sale. After the sale of Skype, Zennström continued his video career in 2007 to launch Joost, an online video distribution service.
What is Skype?
Skype is a software program that lets you use your computer, phone, and web browser to communicate with others. VoIP is a technology that takes an audio signal and converts it into a digital signal and transmits these signals, and Skype is a VoIP service. This program, which goes beyond traditional communication, has approximately 40 million users.
What is VoIP?
VoIP, which stands for "Voice Over Internet Protocol", is a voice transmission technology whose source is an internet line. VoIP is a technology that takes the audio signal and converts it into a digital signal and transmits these signals. This technology is used to minimize the cost and to provide a quality conversation. Skype was also released as a VoIP product due to its functionality.
Original Skype
The first public release of Skype was 0.90 Beta, followed by a series of releases. This initial version of Skype only allowed users to call landlines from their computers, based on the rate plan. The company's logo was not blue as it is now, but purple.
What is Kazaa?
Kazaa was developed by Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis in March 2001. This is designed as a kind of open forum where users can share all kinds of files (movies, books, games, etc.). Users shared both their own created content and content they purchased or downloaded elsewhere. This sharing traffic has also brought copyright lawsuits. After American music labels and movie studios filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Kazaa, Zennström, and Friis shut down their operations and transferred Kazaa to Sharman Networks Limited, headquartered in the South Pacific.
What Is Niklas Zennström Doing With This Wealth?
Niklas Zennström, owner and partner of world-renowned software, opened his door to young minds and dynamic ideas. In 2006, Zennström founded the company he called Atomico. It announced a mutual fund that seeks European technology companies with the potential to succeed in the global market.
Among the projects that Atomico has invested in, there are internet companies that have made their name known worldwide such as Last.fm, Rovio, Wrapp, Fab, Jolicloud, Kyte.