Media Lifeline: Joost founders

the European internet service provider get2net and the everyday.com
portal.

2001: Zennstrom and Friis kick off the second generation of peer-to-peer
file sharing sites with Kazaa. It uses peer-to-peer protocols that, they
hope, will render it immune from prosecution - but it is soon facing
lawsuits. They sell Kazaa to an Australian company incorporated in
Vanuatu.

2003: The dynamic duo moves on to launch Skype, an internet telephony
service. This is not a new idea - existing services include SIP and IAX
- but Skype is the first to use the peer-to-peer approach pioneered on
Kazaa. It takes just over a year to acquire its first million users. By
the end of 2005, it has more than four million users.

2005: The online auction company eBay buys Skype for $2.6
billion, with Zennstrom and Friis agreeing to stay on in management
roles. Internet telephony is a burgeoning business - and eBay says its
acquisition is a response to the growing presence of Google, Microsoft,
AOL and Yahoo! in this sector.

2007: Zennstrom and Friis, who have been testing an online TV service
for months, decide it's time to launch. The service, which they claim
will be the first global TV distribution platform, is to be called
Joost. It will offer a full-screen TV service combined with
community-based content.

Fast forward ...

2010: With Joost having survived wave after wave of legal threats from
programme-makers, angry that their copyright is being violated,
Microsoft moves to acquire the brand, now a highly successful
Vanuatu-based operation. Bill Gates now nominates Zennstrom and Friis as
joint successors at the helm of the world's dominant media owner and
software supplier.