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10:28 a.m. | Updated Microsoft announced on Tuesday that it would buy Skype Global for $8.5 billion in cash, in its largest acquisition ever.
In Skype, Microsoft is buying the leader in Internet voice and video communications, with 107 million users per month connected for more than 100 minutes a month on average. That large and active user base represents a major asset, Steven A. Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive, said in an interview. “It’s an amazing customer imprint,” Mr. Ballmer said. “And Skype is a verb, as they say.”
In an interview Mr. Ballmer never mentioned Google, Microsoft’s archrival whose name is used as a verb in Internet search — a market where Microsoft is spending heavily to try to catch Google, making some recent progress, but at great financial cost.
Buying Skype, analysts say, gives Microsoft the upper hand in the fast-growing market for Internet communications, both for consumers and businesses.
“Google is way behind Skype, and getting ahead of Google in this market was certainly an incentive for Microsoft,” said Leif-Olf Wallin, an analyst for Gartner in Sweden.
www.wired.com
In Skype, Microsoft is buying the leader in Internet voice and video communications, with 107 million users per month connected for more than 100 minutes a month on average. That large and active user base represents a major asset, Steven A. Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive, said in an interview. “It’s an amazing customer imprint,” Mr. Ballmer said. “And Skype is a verb, as they say.”
In an interview Mr. Ballmer never mentioned Google, Microsoft’s archrival whose name is used as a verb in Internet search — a market where Microsoft is spending heavily to try to catch Google, making some recent progress, but at great financial cost.
Buying Skype, analysts say, gives Microsoft the upper hand in the fast-growing market for Internet communications, both for consumers and businesses.
“Google is way behind Skype, and getting ahead of Google in this market was certainly an incentive for Microsoft,” said Leif-Olf Wallin, an analyst for Gartner in Sweden.
Microsoft Buys Skype for $8.5 Billion. Why, Exactly?
Just days after reports that Google and Facebook were interested in partnering with, and possibly buying VoIP company Skype, Microsoft announced that it was buying the company for $8.56 billion in cash. Last year, Skype had revenue of $860 million on which it posted an operating profit of $264...
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