Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Skype Fires Executives, Avoiding Payouts

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 67 posts

Re: Skype Fires Executives, Avoiding Payouts

#21

Post by corin_ »

jordan0day wrote: post #16
temp10238 wrote: post #13

Technically this isn't Skype anymore. Skype management needed a cue from Microsoft.

It is still Skype (well, the private equity firm that owns Skype). The msft deal hasn't gone through yet.

While it is their call, and they will want to maximise profit from the sale, there's no chance that MS didn't sign off on this - think how pissed they could be. "We're buying your company and you just fired the executives that we wanted to keep running it?"

I can only assume that it was decided as part of the sale negotiations. Whether it was Microsoft saying "we want to bring in a new team at the top" or the owners saying "we want to maximise profit" first, who knows.

Re: Skype Fires Executives, Avoiding Payouts

#24

Post by bugsy »

corin_ wrote: post #21
jordan0day wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is still Skype (well, the private equity firm that owns Skype). The msft deal hasn't gone through yet.

While it is their call, and they will want to maximise profit from the sale, there's no chance that MS didn't sign off on this - think how pissed they could be. "We're buying your company and you just fired the executives that we wanted to keep running it?" I can only assume that it was decided as part of the sale negotiations. Whether it was Microsoft saying "we want to bring in a new team at the top" or the owners…

I am not so sure that has been established. MS is not historically this sociopathic. It might be a pig in a poke deal. Pay for a company, get an empty bag. We'll know if this is the case if MS says "hey wait a minute" or not.

Re: Skype Fires Executives, Avoiding Payouts

#25

Post by meterplech »

beambot wrote: post #10

What can a (startup) employee do to prevent these sort of situations from occurring after a liquidity event? In particular, what sort of terms should be in your hiring agreement -- eg. double trigger acceleration?

As PG suggests: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2672454... the best thing you can do is work for a company where you trust the management team and the VC's that back them. An early stage investor would almost never do such a thing because it would completely damage their ability to get access to the best deals.

Check thefunded.com for the VCs (and ask around as well) and do your best to work for good people who care about their employees and reputation.

Re: Skype Fires Executives, Avoiding Payouts

#27

Post by Corrado »

ary wrote: post #5

Stay classy Skype. I wish there was an alternative that matched Skype's previous good qualities (or better). The obfuscation of the OS X Skype client UI, plus the fact that they're now owned by Microsoft has cast a shadow on what used to be a great service (to me at least). Surely there is room in the market for a serious competitor.

Do any of these strike your fancy?

* http://www.oovoo.com/home.aspx

* http://tinychat.com/

* http://www.vbuzzer.com/conferencing/web_conferencing.php

* http://www.goober.com/

* http://www.voxox.com/

Re: Skype Fires Executives, Avoiding Payouts

#28

Post by djcapelis »

r00fus wrote: post #19
djcapelis wrote: post #3

Good for them. If you're going to be cutthroat dicks, be consistent. I hope their good employees take note.

Reduction of equity stake after negotiated compensation just reeks of pure theft. So what are good employees supposed to do? Doubtless the ones who did not get diluted were the big money while the workers get shafted (as usual). Kleptocracy at it's finest.

> So what are good employees supposed to do?

Leave, if there's any justice in the world.

This is how the market works. The reason you don't screw your employees like this is not just because you're a nice person, but because it costs you money in the long term.

Re: Skype Fires Executives, Avoiding Payouts

#29

Post by ary »

Corrado wrote: post #27
ary wrote: post #5

Stay classy Skype. I wish there was an alternative that matched Skype's previous good qualities (or better). The obfuscation of the OS X Skype client UI, plus the fact that they're now owned by Microsoft has cast a shadow on what used to be a great service (to me at least). Surely there is room in the market for a serious competitor.

Do any of these strike your fancy? * http://www.oovoo.com/home.aspx * http://tinychat.com/ * http://www.vbuzzer.com/conferencing/web_conferencing.php * http://www.goober.com/ * http://www.voxox.com/

Maybe. Do you (or anyone else) have a preference?

Re: Skype Fires Executives, Avoiding Payouts

#30

Post by kidmen »

Corrado wrote: post #27
ary wrote: post #5

Stay classy Skype. I wish there was an alternative that matched Skype's previous good qualities (or better). The obfuscation of the OS X Skype client UI, plus the fact that they're now owned by Microsoft has cast a shadow on what used to be a great service (to me at least). Surely there is room in the market for a serious competitor.

Do any of these strike your fancy? * http://www.oovoo.com/home.aspx * http://tinychat.com/ * http://www.vbuzzer.com/conferencing/web_conferencing.php * http://www.goober.com/ * http://www.voxox.com/

For webcaming, I've personally found ooVoo to have better quality than Skype.
Post reply on HN