Microsft Buys Skype for 8.5 Billion

Microsoft today has announced their intention to buy Skype Global, the wonderful application that allows for people around the world to communicate with each other for free. The deal will set Microsoft back eight and one half billion US dollars, in cash. Not exactly pocket change for most companies, but our Redmond friends seem to have access to Scrooge's money bin. 

According to the press release, this will be the third time in less than a decade that Skype has been sold. First to eBay in 2005, who then sold it to the investment group Silver Lake in 2009. Now Microsoft is throwing their hat in the ring. 

Having been traded so often, it is amazing the company has still been showing growth. They didn't turn a profit last year, falling short of breaking even by a mere 7 million USD. However, in terms of users and call volume, Skype is a goliath. There were 170 million connected users and over 207 billion minutes of voice and video conversations in 2010. 

Undoubtedly, Microsoft will soon integrate Skype into their collective and add their biological and technological distinctiveness to their own. Hopefully they wont mess it all up and ruin a good thing. In five year time, we'll either find ourselves making free video calls from everything running Microsoft software (Windows Phones, Desktops, XBOX's, etc) or shedding a tear when you hear mention of Skype;  a once wonderful free service destroyed for mere pocket change.