Joost finally abandons desktop app
Online-video startup Joost — whose name we think is Estonian for "trouble" — will cease development of its little-used desktop application and focus exclusively on a long-expected Web-browser plugin. None of which solves Joost's biggest problem: a lack of compelling content. Considering how difficult it was for NBC…
Niklas Zennström's vikings raid Irish Sea yacht race
At Skandia Cowes Week on the Isle of Wight, Niklas Zennström's racing yacht Ran won five of seven races amongst the largest class of boats, and won the overall title without having to race on the final day. Zennström joined the competitive yachting class after successfully suckering eBay into buying Skype. His…
Viacom CEO: Some platforms work, some are like Joost
Viacom helped Joost with its original funding. But the video platform's co-founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis probably shouldn't expect any more cash from Sumner Redstone's empire. Not after the way Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman took a dainty dump on the service yesterday:
Z is for Zuckerberg, the richest of all
Money isn't everything. Mark Zuckerberg may have the highest net worth among his generation of entrepreneurs, but the Facebook CEO only gets 21 out of 294 pages in Sarah Lacy's new Web 2.0 book, Once You're Lucky, Twice You're Good. That's 16 more than his sister, nerd chanteuse Randi Jayne Zuckerberg, which tells…
Skype to lay off 30 in European offices
Skype will fire 30 employees in London and Estonia, Om Malik reports. Skype, a subsidiary of eBay, has not yet confirmed the news. The 30 headed for the door will join Skype cofounder Niklas Zennstrom, who in October resigned as Skype CEO as eBay took a $1.4 billion asset-impairment charge on the company it…
Skype's failure to make money fast
In an interview just prior to his departure as CEO of Skype, Niklas Zennstrom provided insight into why the internet telephony company was a poor investment for eBay.
Skype rains on eBay's parade
Niklas Zennstrom, CEO of Skype, and eBay are paying the price for the disastrous acquisition of the Internet telephony service two years ago. The Skype cofounder has stepped down from his CEO role, and eBay will take a $1.4 billion asset-impairment charge — more than half of the $2.5 billion they paid for the…

