SKYPE FOUNDER TO PARTICIPATE IN JUBII ACQUISITION

The Skype inventor Janus Friis together with the Freeway founder Morten Wagner is to help his good friend Jubii’s general manager Peter Lundsgaard to acquire the Internet portal Jubii which was once the largest in Denmark.

According to Business.dk’s announcement the three are trying together to raise the required amount to bring Jubii back on Danish hands again after the German owner through eight years has announced that the company is to be sold. A sales price of DKK 30-40 million is mentioned.

German Lycos is to sell off a number of its European activities and then close down the company next April.

Several times, Egmont has been mentioned as a potential buyer of Jubii, but according to Business.dk’s information it is not Egmont. The Danish executive at eBay, which acquired Danish-Swedish Skype some years ago and recently Den Blå Avis, Jacob Fonnesbech Aqraou refers to the fact that eBay never comments on acquisition or sell-off rumours.

Eight years with German owner
Jubii was founded by a trio headed by the innovator Martin Thorborg in 1995 to teach the Danish people to find their way around the Internet. The model was US Yahoo that before the Google days was king of Internet search. In 2000 Jubii was sold to the search service Lycos Europe with head office in Germany.

In 1999, Lycos was the most visited search service on the Internet. Now the company is to be closed down completely in Europe after some very difficult years. Lycos has promised its shareholders a yield of EUR 50 million this year which is to be presented at the general assembly in Amsterdam on 12 December.

From 120 to 20 staff
Late one afternoon in August 2003, a rather nervous Peter Lundsgaard stepped into a crowded room in Carlsberg’s old silo at Frederiksberg and was received by 120 staff who were nearly standing on the chairs to cheer the then 37 year old Dane who had worked five years in the electronics giant Panasonic’s European head office in Wiesbaden in Germany. On 1 October 2003 he was appointed general manager.

Today, Jubii has 20 staff as many functions are handled through central functions in Lycos.