venturebeat.com — Skype burst onto the scene with considerable buzz in 2003. It was one of the first companies to allow calls over the Internet — and thus forever change the way people make calls. Consumers gobbled it up. However, large businesses were tougher customers to crack.
May 16, 2011 View in Crawl 4
timthetaxmanMay 17, 2011
I don’t know. 8.5 billion seems like an awfully huge gamble for a company with no proven track record of profits.
I think sometimes Microsoft just buys this crap to get some cash off their balance sheet. If they have too much cash, they should just pay it out in dividends. Their core businesses are very successful, but almost every new venture they have tried in the past 15 years other than the Xbox has failed. I’m sure the shareholders wouldn’t mind a payout verses another failed venture.
cockyjeremyMay 17, 2011
So.. who's going to make the next Skype when Microsoft f**ks this up?
khagueMay 18, 2011
Nah, the creators will just buy it back and sell it for crazy money again (and again)
myztryMay 18, 2011
That's actually a fair concern. We almost exclusively use Skype for our inter-branch communications.
Now there's a worry that Microsoft will try to leverage Skype to force it's Live services into the equations.
We are starting to look for alternatives before Skype turns into a consumer crowbar for all the other lame Microsoft services that continue to fail and get re-purposed.
zww0May 17, 2011
I love skype
albertcarMay 17, 2011
:)
luxfestinusMay 17, 2011
Hopefully they learn from Ebay's mistake. If they integrate Skype across the board with their current business offerings then they have a good chance at monetizing this synergy.
lemuelcolon821May 17, 2011
nice information
bluenose2May 17, 2011
This is a great step for Microsoft.Cisco should be worried.
Closed AccountMay 17, 2011
smart move by microsoft IMO
estrategyMay 19, 2011
or free ad supported phones?
estrategyMay 19, 2011
or free ad supported phones?
garymcneishMay 18, 2011
whys no one talking about the microsoft nokia partnership? pair that with owning skype. I think it will take off.