Report: Bidding War Over, O2 Rings Up Jajah For $200 Million

Mg Siegler

MG Siegler is a general partner at Google Ventures and a columnist for TechCrunch, where he has been writing since 2009. Previously, MG was a general partner at CrunchFund. And before TechCrunch, MG covered various technology beats for VentureBeat. Originally from Ohio, MG attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI. He’s previously lived in Los Angeles where he worked... → Learn More

Sunday, December 20th, 2009

jajahLast month, we wrote about the VoIP startup Jajah being the target of a bidding war. Today, it appears that war is over, with the winner being O2, and the price being $200 million, according to a report sent out by the financial website TheMarker, and being circulated by Reuters.

It was believed that Microsoft and Cisco were two other companies that were vying to get the company. Back in June, the company served up its 1 billionth VoIP call. While the company has some 15 million subscribers of its own, many of the calls originate from Yahoo Messenger, which has used Jajah since 2008 for its VoIP calls. They also have a deal in place with Microsoft.

The company has raised over $30 million in funding over four rounds. They are backed by the likes of Sequoia and Intel Capital. O2 is the mobile arm of Telefónica Europe, and had been considered the company with only an outside shot at theacquisition, especially considering Microsoft’s partnership with Jajah. Earlier reports indicated the price could be driven as high as $400 million in a bidding war, instead it appears to have stayed on the low side.

We’ve reached out to Jajah for comment on the matter, and will update when we hear back.

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