Niklas Zennström (image) and Janus Friis founded Skype in Sweden in 2003.

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International media reports that Facebook and Google are realising internet telephony company Skype’s potential as an online advertising player. The two internet giants are each trying to interest Skype in a joint venture.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been in discussions about potentially buying Skype, according to various reports, while Google has held talks about a potential joint venture with Skype.

It is unclear which of the Internet giants Skype would prefer.

Early valuation reports see Skype valued anywhere between 1 billion dollar and 4 billion dollar. An IPO – which would value the company at 1 billion dollar - is still planned for later this year.  

Niklas Zennström from Sweden and his business partner Janus Friis from Denmark founded Skype in Sweden in 2003. They sold Skype to eBay in 2005 for US$2.6bn. Two years ago, Zennström was part of the consortium that bought Skype from eBay and he now sits on the board of the internet telephone company.