Still flirting with the idea of an IPO, Skype ^[1] may enter courtships with two of the technology world’s biggest suitors, Facebook and Google. Reuters broke the story ^[2] yesterday that both Facebook and Google are considering deals with the web video-conferencing service based on two unnamed sources. One source confirmed the two companies’ discussions of a joint venture with Skype; the other confirmed that Facebook’s Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg has been involved in internal conversations about such a deal.

Skype filed a registration statement to go public last August, but after appointing Tony Bates as chief executive last October, the company put its IPO on hold until the second half of 2011. As more social media and software companies go public and as giants such as Apple and Google expand services into Skype’s territory, the company may feel more pressured to act. One of Reuter‘s sources valued a deal with the likes of Facebook or Google between $3 billion and $4 billion, whereas Skype’s IPO is expected to raise about $1 billion. Read more from Reuters ^[2].