Niklas Zennström

Niklas is a serial entrepreneur having co-founded Joost, Skype, Kazaa, and Joltid among other high-profile technology companies, with his long-time business partner Janus Friis.

Niklas held the position of CEO from Skype's inception until September 2007. During that time, Skype became the global leader in internet voice communications, with more than 309m registered users within five years of launch and revenues of $551m in 2008. In 2005, Skype was sold to eBay Inc for $3.1 bn.

Before Skype, Niklas co-founded and served as CEO of Kazaa, which became the world's most downloaded internet software in 2003. Prior to that, Niklas was CEO of the European portal, everyday.com, and was a general manager at get2net.

Niklas began his professional career at Tele2, a pioneering competitive phone company in Europe. Niklas currently serves as co-Chairman of the Joost Advisory Board. He also sits on the board of FON.

Niklas was recognized by Time Magazine as one of its 100 Most Influential People in 2006, and has received numerous other awards for innovation and entrepreneurship.

Niklas holds dual degrees in Business and MSc Engineering Physics/Computer Science from Uppsala University in Sweden. He spent his final year at the University of Michigan.