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Microsoft Buys Skype in $8.5 Billion Deal

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MS Believes They Are Providing a Vital Link in Their Telephony Growth

IN A PRESS RELEASE ISSUED THIS MORNING, Microsoft announced that they are purchasing Skype, the "leading internet communications company" from Silver Lake investors group for $8.5 billion in cash.  According to the statement:

The acquisition will increase the accessibility of real-time video and voice communications, bringing benefits to both consumers and enterprise users and generating significant new business and revenue opportunities. The combination will extend Skype’s world-class brand and the reach of its networked platform, while enhancing Microsoft’s existing portfolio of real-time communications products and services.

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.

Skype has proven to be popular for internet-based long-distance telephone service, but it has never been profitable.  Online auction company eBay first bought the service from the original ownership based in Luxembourg, but were unable to manage the company properly.  They in turn sold Skype to the Silver Lake group who increased Skype's minutes-sold by 150%.  Still, it lost $7 million last year.

GigaOm has a review and commentary on the purchase HERE.

Read the entire press release HERE.

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Posted by on May 10, 2011 • Filed under: technology, Technology & Communications • Tagged: , ,

Morning Lineup – November 21

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Hardly a week goes by that we don’t see a story about how Twitter is, or isn’t, on the brink of making billions of dollars for its developers.  So far, despite its tremendous popularity, nobody has figured out how to turn it into a money machine.  But Twitter has something like 60 million people signed up and Tweeting, and the internet biggies like Microsoft and Google are trying to come up with a plan to tap into that potential market.  It seems to be that using their search engines is the way to go.

Yahoo! thinks they have cracked the nut and are starting to utilize Twitter on their search engine, supposedly starting this past Thursday.  The Associated Press explains:

Yahoo is relying on Twitter to highlight the latest news about specific subjects. When a user enters a search request tied to breaking news, Yahoo will top the results page with four tabs — one for direct links to news sites, one for photos, one for video and one dedicated to Twitter.

Clicking on a Twitter tab will show news links posted by Twitter users. Some of the links will be drawn from Twitter accounts set up by the news media, such as CNN and The Associated Press, while others will be pulled from people pointing out a story they find interesting.

Google’s search page has “tabs” at the top also, namely Images, Video, Maps, News, Shopping, Gmail, and More.  No Twitter (or Facebook).  I clicked on the “More” tab, but still no Twitter.  I went to the Yahoo! search engine and entered “Miley Cyrus,”  certainly a “breaking news” topic with that fatal tour bus accident yesterday, but there aren’t any Twitter tabs or even any links in the results yet.  Anyway, they’ve got an interesting concept and has some good potential with this growing trend of the Citizen Journalist to get photos and information uploaded to Twitter as the news is actually happening.

But it seems to me like the technological advances these days are popping up so fast that innovations like this are left behind within weeks and it’s on to the next Great Digital Adventure.

Well, let’s get a great equipment adventure started and get the morning check list started.  I need to get some more coffee going, too.

Posted by on November 21, 2009 • Filed under: morning lineup • Tagged: , , , ,