Avaya has confirmed that it is in talks with Skype exploring some sort of tie-up. Both parties share a private equity owner, private equity firm Silver Lake.
“We are having conversations with Skype,” Avaya CEO Kevin Kennedy told Business Week. The chief executive did not detail the nature of discussions but hinted they focused on how the companies could work together, as opposed to some sort of combination of operations.
In November, Skype’s head of product strategy Michael Bartlett, told Moco news that it was revising its market position and relationships following eBay’s sell-down of the venture.
“eBay has been a great parent to us, but now we’re truly independent so now we can really focus on our core business [with] razor-sharp focus.”
He added that they would be looking at stable mates in Silver Lake’s portfolio.
“Now, having people like Silver Lake, who have got great companies in their portfolio who have relevance to us as well,” he added.
Avaya announced Friday it had completed its acquisition of Nortel’s enterprise business.