Okay Geek Farm
Microsoft readying to buy Skype for $8 billion
Ricardo Trejo
First Facebook and now Microsoft, it would seem that Skype is quite the commodity to have! For some time now there have been talks that Skype was ready to move onto bigger and better things, well mostly because they’re in debt some $600+ million dollars (how that happens I don’t know), but a new owner would certainly help make that hole disappear. And it seems that Microsoft has a few ideas with what they could do with the popular communications service.
UPDATE (11:00 am): Microsoft has officially announced and closed their deal with Skype, buying them for $8.5 billion in CASH! How many briefcases, or even vans, does it take to carry $8 billion dollars? Pretty wild. Here’s a sliver of what their press release commented on what they plan to do with Skype:
“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.”
While reps from both companies aren’t saying a peep, according to the the WSJ, those close to the story say that a deal could be made as early as today (Tuesday). Though the deal isn’t set in stone and there’s still room for each to walk away. What this would mean for Microsoft and its Windows platform is a mystery, but there’s no doubt that they could use Skype’s name to their advantage in bringing a much better instant messenger and communications experience natively to Windows. There’s also the chance that the technology could be implemented somehow into their Xbox Live system.
Hard facts are scarce but this could definitely make Windows 8 a whole lot more interesting. For instance, imagine how much market penetration they could have if this came packaged with Windows. There are a lot of people out there who aren’t even away that services like Skype exist, but if Microsoft nabbing them up for a cool $7 billion means much wider love for Windows than apparently that’ll be the cost of fame.
