[kanchilug] Microsoft Buying Skype!
- From: logesh prabu <logeshgentle1@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: kanchilug@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 10 May 2011 23:57:32 +0530 (IST)
Great upset to us!
Microsoft buying Skype for $8.5 billion
Microsoft is buying Internet phone service company Skype for $8.5 billion US
dollars in a move aimed at carving out a bigger presence in an online arena
dominated by Google and Facebook
"The companies have entered into a definitive agreement under which Microsoft
will acquire Skype, the leading Internet communications company, for USD 8.5
billion in cash from the investor group led by Silver Lake," the two firms
said
in a joint statement.
The transaction has been approved by the boards of directors of the two
companies.
Skype, a popular communications software, uses of voice over Internet protocol
technology that makes international voice and video calls cheaper.
Microsoft said Skype will become a new business division within Microsoft with
Skype CEO Tony Bates assuming the title of president of the Microsoft Skype
Division, reporting directly to Ballmer.
Buying Skype could be a way for Microsoft to shed some of its business
software
image and gain momentum in a hot smartphone market at a time when Internet
lifestyles are going mobile.
Microsoft's biggest acquisition until now had been its 2007 buy of digital
marketing firm aQuantive for $6.3 billion. Microsoft unsuccessfully tried to
buy Yahoo! in 2008 for $47.5 billion in another bid to make an online splash.
Bates said Microsoft and Skype "share the vision of bringing software
innovation and products to our customers.
"Together, we will be able to accelerate Skype's plans to extend our global
community and introduce new ways for everyone to communicate and collaborate,"
Bates said.
Silver Lake managing director Egon Durban said he is "excited about Skype's
long-term future with Microsoft, as it is poised to become one of the world's
most dynamic and comprehensive communications platforms."
The companies said Skype will support Microsoft products like the Xbox game
console and Kinect motion controller, Windows Phone and a wide array of
Windows
devices. Microsoft will also support Skype clients on non-Microsoft platforms.
Skype was founded in 2003 and acquired by online auction giant eBay in
September 2005. It was sold to the investment group led by Silver
Lake in November 2009 in a deal that valued the company at $2.75 billion.
Skype has 170 million users and logged more than 207 billion minutes of voice
and video conversations in 2010.
Skype last year announced plans for an initial public offering of stock and
appeared on its way to profitability, but investors are evidently eager for a
payoff.
Other members of the investor group led by Silver Lake include eBay, CPP
Investment Board, Joltid Limited, Europlay Capital Advisors and Andreessen
Horowitz.
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