Microsoft may buy Skype for as much as $8.5 billion

Updated: May 11, 2011 1:50 a.m.

Read Microsoft buys Skype for $8.5 billion, in support for Xbox Live and Kinect

Microsoft is now being reported to have a close deal with Skype and may buy the company, which may be between $7 billion and $8 billion.

Microsoft and Skype logo
Logos coined by Batangas Today

As reported at Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, May 10, people familiar with the deal said that Microsoft may buy Skype, wherein the total value is about $8.5 billion, including Skype’s long term debt.

Apparently, both companies have not confirm yet the report, with the report saying the deal is not yet final and may still be dropped. Google and Facebook were also rumored to be interested in buying Skype.

Nevertheless, Skype, a leading Internet communication company with around 663 million users around the world, is being expected to give Microsoft a brand name in the field of online phone and video conversation.

Skype, which was launched in 2003 by Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, was said to have been advised by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and J.P.Morgan Chase & Co on the deal, while Microsoft did not use financial advisers.

Back in 2005, eBay bought Skype for $2.6 billion but sold 70% to private investors in 2009 including Silver Lake Partners, Index Ventures, and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.

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