eBay Inc. said Monday Skype co-founder and CEO Niklas Zennstrom has stepped down.

Zennstrom helped found the Internet phone company in 2003 and will become executive chairman of its board. Michael van Swaaij, the companys chief strategy officer, will serve as CEO of Skype until it finds a permanent successor.

eBay Inc. also said Monday that it will take an impairment charge of $1.43 billion in its third quarter under an agreement it reached with some Skype Shareholders when it purchased the Internet phone company in 2005.

eBay said it paid $530 million to settle future obligations with the shareholders and anticipates recording an additional $900 million as impairment charges.

The online auction site was required under the earn-out agreement to pay up to about $1.7 billion based on Skype’s number of active users and sales and gross profit targets in 2008 and the first half of 2009.

eBay bought Skype for $2.6 billion.

eBay Inc. www.ebay.com
Skype www.skype.com