Skype was originally written by three Estonian specialists: Ahti Heinla, Priit Kasesalu and Jaan Tallinn. In 2003, Niklas Zennstrom from Sweden and Janus Friis from Denmark set up the Luxembourg-based Skype Group, and on August 29, 2003, the first beta version was launched. After the inauguration, Skype enjoyed tremendous popularity and was spread rapidly all over the world. On September 12, 2007, Skype was bought by eBay for $ 2.5 billion, eBay shares and performance-based considerations. On September 1, 2009, eBay announced the sale of 65% of Skype to Silver Lake, Andreessen Horowitz and the Canada Pension Plan Administration for $ 1.9 billion, Skype now values 2.75 billion USD.