Microsoft buys Skype for $8.5 billion

Did you ever think to yourself, “Hey, I sure wish Skype was on my X-Box” or “I sure wish I could face time on my Windows Phone like those iPhone users.” Well you just got your wish, because Microsoft just bought the indebted company for a rousing 8.5 billion dollars.

The deal will also make it possible for Microsoft to compete with both Google and Apple. However there are some concerns that Skype may go by the wayside like a few of Microsofts other acquisitions. These concerns and more are brought to light by the Washington Post’s Hayley Tsukayama. See a bit of here article here:

Microsoft and Skype made the big announcement Tuesday that the Internet telephone company will become part of the Microsoft family to the tune of $8.5 billion.

In a joint statement, the companies said that Skype will support a host of Microsoft devices such as the Xbox, Kinect and Windows Phone. The VoIP company will become a division of Microsoft. Skype’s chief executive Tony Bates will report directly to Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer.

In return for acquiring Skype and assuming its debt, Microsoft can compete with Google Voice and Apple’s FaceTime in the mobile market.

That’s great news for Microsoft and Nokia, which recently tied up a partnership to have the Windows Phone platform on all Nokia phones. Nokia is the world’s largest smartphone vendor, followed by Apple.

The question for consumers though, is whether Microsoft can use Skype to its full potential. Microsoft doesn’t have the greatest track record with acquisitions: products such as Hotmail have been left to languish, while a series of other promising acquisitions have been shut down. On the other hand, Business Insider has pointed out some notable exceptions: Microsoft’s 2000 acquisition of video game company Bungie yielded the mega-hit Halo and gave the Xbox a solid following.

See Hayley’s full article at www.washingtonpost.com.