Microsoft buys Skype for 8.5bil

Deathstarr

Well-known member
The $8.5 billion question: did Microsoft overpay for Skype?
Perhaps, perhaps not. Only time will tell. As always with these things, the many tech industry pundits and analysts will look at this deal from all possible angles and then some, and still only a handful will end up being somewhat accurate when we look back in a couple of years.
From a non-financial point of view, the acquisition makes a ton of sense today, though.

Source: Done Deal! Big Deal. Smart Deal? Microsoft Buys Skype For $8.5 Billion In Cash

Well this might be bad.
 
Let me summerize:
Best case:
Mac-Skype gets even more ugly.

Worst case:
MS kills everything but the Windows version. (And renames it to something like "Microsoft Windows Live Hotmail MSN Video Chat Bing" (Source))

Either way... Don't really like it.
 
This is a great deal for Microsoft, considering the size of Skype's user base (larger than Facebook, 660M+ users, though only about 170M of those are considered active within a financial quarter; however, far more people have probably given Skype their payment details than Facebook). It's also great for Skype, considering they're not currently profitable (they've wrote down assets and acquisition costs over $350M). If you compare their old revenue figures with new growth figures, they could reach $500M in profit this year from within Microsoft.
 
Skype will support Microsoft devices like Xbox and Kinect, Windows Phone and a wide array of Windows devices, and Microsoft will connect Skype users with Lync, Outlook, Xbox Live and other communities. Microsoft will continue to invest in and support Skype clients on non-Microsoft platforms.

I can imagine the mac version being ground into the floor now. Time to start looking at that google chat thingy. Shame, I loved skype.
 
I'm looking forward to the integration with Xbox, just to see what they have in mind...but other than that I'm not too sure how I feel about it at the moment. I can see it going both ways really.
 
I will not talk bad yet....I will give them the fair chance not to screw this up. I have been using skype for a whole lotta years and have seen a lot of change in the app. Let's hope on their acquisition of this software they don't change the course of skype which has steadily gotten better over the years.

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/05/microsoft-buys-skype-2/
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/42968310/ns/business-us_business/

Your optimism inspires me.
waiting2.gif
 
;)

Let's hope they don't ruin Skype and turn it into bloatware like Messenger.
Skype itself isn't exactly the perfect example for a lightweight piece of software :)

This is just another desperate attempt by MS to catch up in the immensely important mobile communications area. So far, nothing has helped, neither Windows Phone 7 nor their deal with Nokia. Whether or not it will help to have full control over Skype - we'll see. Personally, I don't think so.

MS and Nokia are the two major losers on the mobile market. That's a fact.
 
I wonder what the general attitude towards this acquisition might have been if Google or Apple had bought Skype instead.
In my mind, they're both much more trustworthy companies. Granted, they both have their faults, but in comparison to M$...well...
 
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