The company specializes in voice over IP is taking steps toward an initial public offering of up to 1,000 billion, but investors will have to wait until 2011 before they announced the starting price, said several people close to the situation. Despite expectations of investors that the IPO would materialize later this year, market conditions and other factors seem to be slowing down the process, said two people familiar with the situation. The software company based in Luxembourg, popular for voice calls and video over the Internet cheaper, register with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC, for its acronym in English) in August.

In October, Skype has appointed Tony Bates, a former senior vice president of Cisco Systems, as chief executive. The company is also evaluating a number of factors including the current inventory for the IPO and its own choice, said another person familiar with the situation. The source said the new CEO would make a decision about the right time for IPO once you become familiar with staff and products. The public offering will occur sometime next year, said another person familiar with the situation. Once agreement is reached, the value of the IPO will be in a range between 750 million and 1,000 million dollars, said two people.