Microsoft buys Skype for 8.5bil

[Carlos]

Sometimes I wonder how they come up with such a number... are they sitting around a table and pitching numbers??? ... 1 billion.. no 4 billion.... no 10 ... ok, let's agree on 8.5 billion...

The market size is one thing, but the technology is worth more than ANYTHING they have. Doesn't matter who - Microsoft or Skype.

For example, when you meet with the venture capitalists for your own business, they valuate your company's worth based on the brand [or brands] that you have in your portfolio, and if you're a tech company, they valuate your company based on the quality of the technology, or if there's a market for it. Skype has all of the above.

 

[EQnoble]

Sometimes I wonder how they come up with such a number... are they sitting around a table and pitching numbers??? ... 1 billion.. no 4 billion.... no 10 ... ok, let's agree on 8.5 billion...

...projected revenue based on previous sales accounted for from day X to presernt. Purchasing company expects a turnaround on investment in Y years so item to be purchased has a potential value of Z.

 

[Fufu]

Apple needed money, Microsoft wanted the lawsuit settled, it was a win-win. I've actually never owned an Apple product.

I own an Apple Airport Extreme, run Snow Leopard on VMware and have Safari on 7 for reference. iTunes = no.

I did enjoy seeing Apple shoot past MS in market cap last year. And Steve Ballmer Saying " yeah, but we made more profit and that's what counts". They had 4 billion vs 3 billion for Apple during that quarter. This year Apple posted 6.6 billion for the quarter. It's all just interesting.

It doesn't matter to me who makes what.
I always look for functionality.

 

[Shamil]

Microsoft has no "ongoing" investment and are not currently listed as having a holding in Apple. Their "investment" in Apple was part of a settlement over the Quicktime infringement lawsuit. For $150 million they received (what was at the time) nearly worthless stock. See ---> Stop the lies! The day that Microsoft 'saved' Apple

Edit: Sorry, missed your "ongoing" referred to development. This was also part of the 1997 settlement stipulation.

Later testimony in the U.S. D.O.J. Microsoft anti-trust trial revealed that, at the time, Apple was threatening Microsoft with a multi-billion dollar lawsuit over the allegedly stolen code, and in return Bill Gates was threatening with the cancellation of Office for the Mac. [2] [3] In August 1997, Apple and Microsoft announced a settlement deal. Apple would drop all current lawsuits, including all lingering issues from the "Look & Feel" lawsuit and the "QuickTime source code" lawsuit, and agree to make Internet Explorer the default browser on the Macintosh unless the user explicitly chose the bundled Netscape browser. In return, Microsoft agreed to continue developing Office, Internet Explorer, and various developer tools and software for the Mac for the next 5 years, and purchase $150 million of non-voting Apple stock. The companies also agreed to mutual collaboration on Java technologies, and to cross-license all existing patents, and patents obtained during the five-year deal, with one another.

We forget that Apple's investors weren't exactly pleased. Microsoft saved Apple by instilling confidence into them. Apple was still haemorrhidging billions of Dollars.

Originally, Apple sued the San Francisco Canyon Company, then extended it to both Intel and Microsoft.

 

[Forsaken]

I'm perfectly fine with Microsoft having skype now... Due to the new SkypeKit SDK, programs like Trillian are now capable of natively supporting the protocol, meaning I don't have to use the pos Skype client any longer.

 

[James]

Just out of curiosity, has anyone switched from Skype to Google Voice for calls that cost? I've been using Google Voice recently (though in UK it isn't fully-functional, you can only call other people, nobody can call you) and it's been working well.

 

[Shamil]

Just out of curiosity, has anyone switched from Skype to Google Voice for calls that cost? I've been using Google Voice recently (though in UK it isn't fully-functional, you can only call other people, nobody can call you) and it's been working well.

I've stuck to Skype. Quite frankly, I don't care who owns it, as long as the functionality stays.

 

[James]

I've stuck to Skype. Quite frankly, I don't care who owns it, as long as the functionality stays.

I wasn't referring to switching because of the Microsoft buyout, just switching in general (because you prefer GV to Skype for example).

 

[Shamil]

I wasn't referring to switching because of the Microsoft buyout, just switching in general (because you prefer GV to Skype for example).

My bad, I do apologise