The business world doesn't understand it and all the business articles question their sanity. Microsoft already has a similar service and, it seems, is paying double what anyone else was willing to pay.
They have a similar product but it has no where near the market share that Skype has, when I was looking to do cheap online calls to telephone lines Skype seemed to be the only game in town. If they play their cards right then I think it was a good acquisition, but I think it was a high risk move and can easily see them doing a bebo.
All we know Microsoft is a big company in the world, even they have enough money to buy Skype, and this new dimension to Microsoft that can will bring a positive feedback for this company.
Sure they have already a plan on how they are going to use skype since it was sold for so much money. Wow!
Skype is bought and I think it will be integrated in the further releases of Windows OS and after some time we will have to pay for using skype
If they do that, we might stop using Skype and use something else. And they get nothing. I am really interested so see how will Microsoft earn back those 8.5 billions.
Like how they earn everything back. Billions in dollars through software, hardware, consoles, and computers. They are dominating the technology market and even when they make mistakes, it costs them nothing to replenish. Whatever plans they have for Skype will definitely bring in more money.
Microsoft doesn't sell computers and not much in the way of hardware. iirc, they make little or nothing on XBox hardware. They dominate desktop Windows and games. Nothing else. In fact, everywhere else they are non-existent or a minor player. In no way is Microsoft a technology leader. They have lost billions of dollars on their last five acquisitions which were shut down afterwards. Skype has NEVER made a profit. The financial articles all say they paid double what anyone else was willing to pay if they were willing to pay anything. Wall Street didn't like it as their stock price dropped, and it's still dropping. The financial articles are asking, "wtf?". This appears to be another blunder.
I read a comment in FB about this and the comment made me laugh out loud for so long. "Microsoft bought SKYPE for $8 M.. idiots could have downloaded it for free"
there is no cash, they meant real$ in the bank vs credit or stock. They could cash it of course but it would take years for any bank
Skype was never profitable (despite being a good service), even eBay got rid of them when they got the chance... I don't know how this will help Microsoft, maybe they have a plan - they better not fookx Windows 8 or they will start running out of money. Windows Phone 7 is a mediocre OS, the only good product MS has right now is Windows 7...
Not so smart buy because Google has its own voice and web chat. The Ipad 2 for apple has their own voice and web chat.
It'll be interesting to see what plans microsoft has for skype and how they will earn back the money they paid... i guess we can expect a crapload of ads on skype now