The group of investors seeking to buy Skype from Ebay have agreed to give the founders a large stake in the business to end the bitter dispute over the ownership of the technology that underpins the online communications service.

Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, who sold Skype to Ebay in 2005, will take a 14 per cent stake in the business. The investor group, including Silver Lake, Andreessen Horowitz and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board will take 56 per cent. Ebay will retain a 30 per cent stake in the business. Index Ventures, which had originally planned to take a 3 per cent share of the business will exit the deal.