Andreessen agreed to invest $50 million of his venture firm's money in the deal on the bold assumption that he and Durban ultimately would win the founders' trust. He assumed correctly: Zennström and Friis accepted a 14% stake in the new ownership structure in exchange for giving all the IP back to Skype. With Skype's software rights secured, the investors went into turnaround mode. Durban, who says he spent about half his time over two years on Skype matters, focused on bringing in new management. He and Andreessen quietly changed out 29 of Skype's 30 top managers. (In contrast, the recent firing of eight executives before the closing of the Microsoft (MSFT) deal -- they'll lose their chance at million-dollar payouts -- caused quite a stir.) Thanks to its status as a venture-backed company with options to grant, Skype was able to double its engineering ranks and open a Skype facility in Silicon Valley.
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