Microsoft to buy Skype for $8.5 billion
Microsoft is about to buy the VoIP company Skype for $8.5bn, according to reports out today Tuesday.
The deal, which works out at £5.2bn, would be more than three times more valuable than eBay's $2.6bn purchase of Skype in 2005.
That deal never really worked out for the online auctioneer, and in 2009 eBay sold most of the company back to its founders, Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, and the Silver Lake investment group. But the auction company kept a 30 per cent stake, something which I am sure they are super happy they did now.
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal today, Zennström and Friis are set to make millions more by selling their creation for a second time.
According to Zdnet it remains unconfirmed whether Microsoft would buy all the core technology associated with Skype, as eBay appeared to forget to do when it bought the VoIP firm — an oversight that gave Zennström and Friis the bargaining chip they needed to eventually regain a share in the company.
Prior to Tuesday's news, Skype was planning a public flotation, with the expectation that the IPO would bring in $100m.
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