—After founding P2P filesharer KaZaA then selling it to Sharman Networks in 2002, Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis went on to start Jersey, England-based Joltid, a company at which to develop P2P technologies for distributed storage and communication. Zennstrom and Friis picked Joltid’s Global Index product to underpin Skype’s efficient means of routing internet voice calls and the same technology powered Joost’s video distribution.

—When they sold Skype to eBay in 2005, eBay licensed the platform rather than bought it outright. The license has been in effect since and is thought to have been the same technology used to power Joost’s video distribution.

—Amid tension during the last year between eBay and Joltid over the terms of Skype’s use of the network, Skype in March ripped up an agreement allowing either side to sue each other. But, as we reported in April, eBay asked London’s High Court to rule its continued use of the technology is allowed. eBay admitted “the continued operation of Skype’s business as currently conducted would likely not be possible” without the technology. The case is due to be heard in June 2010.

Fast-forward to June 2009, when, facing competition from Hulu, iPlayer and others, Joost finally gave up on its web TV ambitions, choosing to down-shift to be a white-label video tech supplier. Volpi joined Index Ventures - which invested in both Joost and Skype - days later as a partner.

Then, a fortnight ago, eBay confirmed it would sell 65 percent of Skype to Andreessen Horowitz, Silver Lake Partners—and Index Ventures, with Volpi and managing partner Danny Rimer (a member of the Joost board) as the Index contacts. Volpi served on the Skype board when it was a startup and he was an executive at Cisco.

Times Online is calling Volpi’s exit as Joost chairman “an apparent falling out” between him and Zennstrom/Friis. But it’s unclear what the falling out concerns.