[quote]Microsoft Corp. is close to a deal to buy Internet phone company Skype Technologies SA for between $7 billion and $8 billion—the most aggressive move yet by Microsoft to play in the increasingly-converged worlds of communication, information and entertainment.
A deal could be announced as early as Tuesday, people familiar with the matter said, though they cautioned that negotiations aren't yet final and a deal could still fall apart. Including Skype's long-term debt, the total value of the deal is about $8.5 billion.
Representatives for Microsoft and Skype declined to comment.
Buying Skype—a service that connects millions of users around the world via Internet-based telephony and video—would give Microsoft a recognized brand name on the Internet at a time when it is struggling to get more traction in the consumer market. Microsoft has invested heavily in marketing and improving the technology of its Bing search engine. While it has made some market share gains over the past year, Google Inc. still dominates the search market with more than 65% of U.S. searches going through its site. At a value close to $8 billion, the Skype deal would rank at or near the top of the biggest acquisitions in the 36-year history of Microsoft, a company that traditionally has shied away from large deals. In 2007, Microsoft paid approximately $6 billion to acquire online advertising firm aQuantive Inc. Many current and former Microsoft executives believe Microsoft significantly overpaid for that deal. But they are also relieved that Microsoft gave up on an unsolicited $48 billion offer for Yahoo Inc. nearly three years ago. Yahoo is valued at half that sum today.
Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer, though, sees the Internet as an essential battleground for Microsoft, a company that still makes the vast bulk of its profits from Windows and Office software systems. Investors have become increasingly concerned about Microsoft's ability to squeeze continued growth out of those businesses, as rival technologies from Apple Inc., Google and others put more pressure on profits.
The division behind Microsoft's hugely lucrative Office suite of applications also makes a product, known as Lync, which ties together email, instant messaging and voice communications into a single application. Skype could strengthen that offering.
The deal shows how far Skype has come since it was launched in 2003 by Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, two men who had created a file-sharing technology called Kazaa that became widely associated with music piracy. While Skype was initially popular with techies, it increasingly worked its way into the mainstream by offering free or cheap phone calls which were especially appealing to international callers.
When eBay Inc. purchased the company in 2005 for $2.6 billion in cash and stock, Skype was regarded as something of an experiment in which eBay's buyers and sellers would use the service to communicate about potential transactions.
The experiment faltered, and eBay gave up on Skype in 2009,selling a 70% stake to a group of technology investors including Silver Lake Partners, venture capital firms Index Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz, and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, who will make a handsome return on the Microsoft transaction.
For all its promise, Skype has had a mixed history as an operating business. It has produced little net profit in the eight years since it was founded. Profits continue to remain elusive as the company expands its business world-wide. Last year the company posted revenue of $860 million and $264 million in operating profits, but still had a loss of $7 million. The company had $686 million in long-term debt as of Dec. 31.
Skype uses a technology called voice over Internet protocol, which treats calls as data like email messages and routes them over the Internet, rather than a traditional phone network. Skype's software, which can be downloaded free, allows users to call other Skype users on computers or certain cellphones for free. Skype users can also call land lines for a fee and conduct video calls.
Skype could play a role in Microsoft's effort to turn around its fortunes in the mobile-phone market, an area where it has lagged badly behind rivals Apple and Google. The company last year launched a new operating system for mobile phones known as Windows Phone 7 that has been well reviewed by technology critics but hasn't yet meaningfully improved Microsoft's market share.
Microsoft will likely need to tread carefully, though, in integrating Skype into its mobile software because of the potential for pushback from wireless carriers, whose support Microsoft badly needs. Skype could give consumers a way to make cheap phone calls over the Internet from mobile phones, without paying higher rates to the carriers.
Last August, Skype filed documents to go public but put its IPO plans on hold after bringing in a new chief executive, Tony Bates. Skype had expected to raise close to $1 billion through its IPO, people familiar with the matter said at the time. At the same time, the Luxembourg-based company entertained conversations in the past with potential buyers and joint-venture partners, including Facebook Inc., Google and Cisco Systems Inc., according to other people familiar with the matter. Skype had sought between $5 billion and $6 billion to sell itself, they added. The blog GigaOm earlier reported news of Microsoft's interest in Skype.[/quote]
[url=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703730804576313932659388852.html?mod=googlenews_wsj]**SOURCE**[/url]
Please no. I dare think what Microsoft would do with Skype
Holy shit, that's a lot of money for a service where you look at someone's face and talk to them.
fuck off microsoft
skype is run by nazis, what could it hurt
[QUOTE=Penguiin;29731288]skype is run by nazis, what could it hurt[/QUOTE]
:godwin:
This could be alright, as long as the quality stays the same and they don't charge for anything more than they do now...all is good
i wonder if they'll cripple it the same way they crippled wlm.
here comes the OMG MICRO$OFT SUX EVIL CORPORATIONS RUINING OUR STUFF FITE DA MAN
need i remind you that like 80% of you are running your computer on an operating system MADE by this company?
Don't they have MSN already. Fuck off Microcash.
Prepare for subscription fees.
[QUOTE=hahabynow;29731424]Prepare for subscription fees.[/QUOTE]
10$ to have 1 Video Chat.
Called it.
I imagine if bought, MS would find a way to ruin skype
Aww come on, I love Skype :sigh:
There better not be fucking subscription fees.
[QUOTE=MIPS;29731071][url=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703730804576313932659388852.html?mod=googlenews_wsj]**SOURCE**[/url]
Please no. I dare think what Microsoft would do with Skype[/QUOTE]
They would probably just implement it in MSN messenger/ Xbox Live.
New to Skype - Pay per minute plans; get the most out of your calls when you pay 99c per minute!
Watch them axe skype and integrate the VOIP tech into Xbox Live/GFWL
[QUOTE=Frisk;29731659]Watch them axe skype and integrate the VOIP tech into Xbox Live/GFWL[/QUOTE]
why don't they just buy usage of the Silk codecs then
valve did for the source engine and steam
maybe this explains why skype has been getting worse with each update...
all jokes aside, this probably won't be that bad
[QUOTE=Zillamaster55;29731093]Holy shit, that's a lot of money for a service where you look at someone's face and talk to them.[/QUOTE]
It's an absolutely revolutionary service that trumps other VOIP programs that have been around for more than a decade. Not only that, but Skype already has a very solid user base. It's an automatic money maker for Microsoft. Also, they have absolutely [b]NO[/b] in depth customer support. They're making almost pure profit off of their service.
This would not be a bad thing at all.
Deal raised to 10.7b
What is so bad about this?
[QUOTE=Lust;29731407]here comes the OMG MICRO$OFT SUX EVIL CORPORATIONS RUINING OUR STUFF FITE DA MAN
need i remind you that like 80% of you are running your computer on an operating system MADE by this company?[/QUOTE]
yes, and they fail with every other thing they try to do. OS is they only thing microsoft should be doing.
When did facepunch turn into a bandwagon of "LOL MICRO$HIT" clowns? I can't see anything wrong with this, skype's support is shit (read: nonexistant) and roughly 2 human lifetimes later there's still no skypein numbers for Canada.
Embrace, Extend
[b]Extinguish[/b]
[QUOTE=Cuel;29732708]yes, and they fail with every other thing they try to do. OS is they only thing microsoft should be doing.[/QUOTE]
MSN, Hotmail, DirectX, C#, windows phones.
Seriously, there's nothing wrong with the majority of the things they do. Sure every once in a while ANY company will do something fucking retarded like microsoft songsmith, but for the most part the stuff they make is of pretty good quality, and some of it is awesome.
The sad thing is that people like you were often deluded by marketing schemes written by apple. The whole "LOL VISTA SUX" thing was part of apple's campaign to try and push their shiny overpriced computers on people, so microsoft did [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mojave_Experiment]this[/url]. People come in thinking "HOLY SHIT VISTA IS BAD" for completely indeterminable reasons and they say "oh well this mojave OS looks great". It was just a re-branded vista.
Msn and skype become one..
[QUOTE=Elspin;29732892]MSN, Hotmail, DirectX, C#, windows phones.
Seriously, there's nothing wrong with the majority of the things they do. Sure every once in a while ANY company will do something fucking retarded like microsoft songsmith, but for the most part the stuff they make is of pretty good quality, and some of it is awesome.
The sad thing is that people like you were often deluded by marketing schemes written by apple. The whole "LOL VISTA SUX" thing was part of apple's campaign to try and push their shiny overpriced computers on people, so microsoft did [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mojave_Experiment]this[/url]. People come in thinking "HOLY SHIT VISTA IS BAD" for completely indeterminable reasons and they say "oh well this mojave OS looks great". It was just a re-branded vista.[/QUOTE]
so you'd say MSN and Hotmail are good? MSN was a good alternative to ICQ back in the days, but it went downhill after version 8, today it's filled with crap. if gmail and hotmail was created at the same time, how many people would have used hotmail? how about GFWL and bing? i've never used a windows phone so I have no opinion on those. also there's no reason to bring apple into this.
interesting link you posted. not to mention this
[quote]The necessary hardware and software was already set up for the participants and demonstrated by a salesman, so they were unable to try out the software themselves.[/quote]
[QUOTE=Penguiin;29731288]skype is run by nazis, what could it hurt[/QUOTE]
This.
It can be only better.
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