The consortium, led by private equity company Silver Lake, includes UK firm Index Ventures, an investor in Skype, Andreessen Horowitz and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.
The decision follows a year-long review of Skype by eBay.
The auction company bought Skype for $2.6bn in 2005, but subsequently admitted it had paid too much and wrote down the value of the company - which allows customers to make free telephone calls from their computers - by $900m.
EBay will retain a 35% stake in Skype.
In April, eBay announced plans to separate Skype from the rest of its business and said it was going to float the telephone company in 2010.
According to its latest financial figures, Skype generated revenues of $551m in 2008, a 44% lift from 2007.
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