Skype Officially Belongs to Microsoft Now
All t's have been crossed and all i's are dotted.
Microsoft announced that its acquisition of Skype, which was first announced five months ago, has been finalized. Microsoft revealed plans to purchase Skype way back in May of this year. At the time, the two companies said they hoped to obtain all the required regulatory clearances before the end of this calendar year, and it looks like they got their wish.
In a press release sent out Friday morning, Microsoft confirmed that it had closed the deal, and revealed that Skype CEO Tony Bates will now report directly to Steve Ballmer in his new role as president of the new Skype Division of Microsoft. Skype employees will continue to be located around the world in offices including Estonia, the Czech Republic, Russia, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Luxembourg, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, and the United States.
"Skype is a phenomenal product and brand that is loved by hundreds of millions of people around the world," said Steve Ballmer. "We look forward to working with the Skype team to create new ways for people to stay connected to family, friends, clients and colleagues — anytime, anywhere."
Speaking via a post on the Official Microsoft Blog, Tony Bates said:
"Joining forces with Microsoft is the best way to accelerate this mission and capitalize on our position at the intersection of social, mobile and video communications. Simply put, we want to transform communications. We will do this by building the best products in the world that allow all of us to do things together whenever we’re apart and by creating teams who work faster and smarter across the globe building those world-class products."
He also appeared in a special video uploaded to Microsoft's YouTube channel. Check it out below.
- Microsoft,
- Business,
- Microsoft-Skype ,
- Acquisition ,
- Sale ,
- Closed ,
- Sold
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Video link broken...
"The URL contained a malformed video ID"
... they gonna hear you now... boo...
Hopefully Skype won't die a slow death from this.
Skynetttttttttttttt
I fear my future from here.
darn... microsoft will now spyke on users and skypnet will take over the world!!!
they should implement Skype in the next windows
It would be super cool if they somehow magically combine Windows Live Messenger and Skype without losing tons of people in the process.
Many people like me need both programs to communicate with most people which is quite some trouble
As if Skype wasn't bad enough before... Now it's just going to get worse and worse... and yet it was the best option we had...
Hold on, didn't Facebook acquire part of Skype? Does this mean Microsoft owns part of Facebook? Or even Facebook owns a part of Microsoft?
Time to stop using skype and Microapple prodcucts
Another dumb move by the billionaires at Microsoft. You can always expect the team at microsoft to spend billions on a technology that makes no sense, when they have lync. Has anyone even thought about this, or relaying propaganda. Lync already does all of this the skype does. Has anyone even thought about why they paid for this? This is the worst and final bad decision Ballmer is going to make. The fact is they just thew away billions on a company that was having trouble paying the books. They bought a company that was in debt. How are they going to make anything and get the billions back? They never will, its will be put on the taxpayers. The lose will be written off like no big deal, cause they can always pay off the local politicians and run ads promoting their kindness around all the homeless people that surrounds their buildings. If you ever been to Washignton and see the amount of people living outside, I doubt the carnival would last much longer. They figure its best to take on as much debt as possible so they can make the poor people pay for their losses. Why do you think they are still headquartered in Washington state. Cause they get kickbacks and the taxpayers pay for loss. Its the biggest racket yet. The world will know when its all over how they still had so much cash, when they have been in debt and LOSING for ten years and NOT selling os'. They have been writing off losses and coooking the books by office moves.
They are the biggest problem for the internet community and other internet companies as they are representing the wroung way to do business. Rape from the poor, overcharge for a product that takes them 100k to create and they make billions in profit while the poor people still can not afford to buy anything.
I worked at Microsoft TEN times. 10 time Microsoft worker and I never could afford to buy their own PC! Did I tell you that I have stood in line at the foodbank while working at Microsoft! Did I =tell you I could never afford gasoline to make it to work. I starved when working at microsoft, I could never afford to use the the products I helped create! I have worked on the biggest products released the past ten years. I could never afford to buy their products. They even give workers a discount for their stuff, but this was a discount I could get looking online for the same stuff. Again they provided me with a discount, touted around and promoted that employees get this wonderful discount at their shop on campus. NOT. This discount can be found just doing a simple search online. They are the biggest PROFITEERS and have HURT the evolution of the computer age. They represent the wrong way of life for everyone. People living just a few miles from their offices CAN NOT afford XP. Yet they would rather put XP intot he trashcan and let more people starve. There are people holding signs up on corners surrounding their offices. THese are people who have worked for them, after they are done, its back to the street. They do not care, only PROFIT is their main concern. Money is all they want. They have no purpose in the new world. They should be eradicated when the banks go. All the profiteers should be brought to real justice. The CRIMES they commit are silent and they pay others to keep quiet. They use lawyers and sideshow companies to do their dirty work. They worst company in the land that breeds business practices for the indu=stry for other to follow. They are evil and their profits display the need for reform and imprisonment. Greed kills, its just that never makes the news....
Its a lot better than if Apple owned it. It would become a jail then.
Another dumb move by the billionaires at Microsoft. You can always expect the team at microsoft to spend billions on a technology that makes no sense, when they have lync. Has anyone even thought about this, or relaying propaganda. Lync already does all of this the skype does. Has anyone even thought about why they paid for this? This is the worst and final bad decision Ballmer is going to make. The fact is they just thew away billions on a company that was having trouble paying the books. They bought a company that was in debt. How are they going to make anything and get the billions back? They never will, its will be put on the taxpayers. The lose will be written off like no big deal, cause they can always pay off the local politicians and run ads promoting their kindness around all the homeless people that surrounds their buildings. If you ever been to Washignton and see the amount of people living outside, I doubt the carnival would last much longer. They figure its best to take on as much debt as possible so they can make the poor people pay for their losses. Why do you think they are still headquartered in Washington state. Cause they get kickbacks and the taxpayers pay for loss. Its the biggest racket yet. The world will know when its all over how they still had so much cash, when they have been in debt and LOSING for ten years and NOT selling os'. They have been writing off losses and coooking the books by office moves.They are the biggest problem for the internet community and other internet companies as they are representing the wroung way to do business. Rape from the poor, overcharge for a product that takes them 100k to create and they make billions in profit while the poor people still can not afford to buy anything. I worked at Microsoft TEN times. 10 time Microsoft worker and I never could afford to buy their own PC! Did I tell you that I have stood in line at the foodbank while working at Microsoft! Did I =tell you I could never afford gasoline to make it to work. I starved when working at microsoft, I could never afford to use the the products I helped create! I have worked on the biggest products released the past ten years. I could never afford to buy their products. They even give workers a discount for their stuff, but this was a discount I could get looking online for the same stuff. Again they provided me with a discount, touted around and promoted that employees get this wonderful discount at their shop on campus. NOT. This discount can be found just doing a simple search online. They are the biggest PROFITEERS and have HURT the evolution of the computer age. They represent the wrong way of life for everyone. People living just a few miles from their offices CAN NOT afford XP. Yet they would rather put XP intot he trashcan and let more people starve. There are people holding signs up on corners surrounding their offices. THese are people who have worked for them, after they are done, its back to the street. They do not care, only PROFIT is their main concern. Money is all they want. They have no purpose in the new world. They should be eradicated when the banks go. All the profiteers should be brought to real justice. The CRIMES they commit are silent and they pay others to keep quiet. They use lawyers and sideshow companies to do their dirty work. They worst company in the land that breeds business practices for the indu=stry for other to follow. They are evil and their profits display the need for reform and imprisonment. Greed kills, its just that never makes the news....
Sounds like a personal problem to me bro.
I worked at Microsoft TEN times. 10 time Microsoft worker and I never could afford to buy their own PC! Did I tell you that I have stood in line at the foodbank while working at Microsoft! Did I =tell you I could never afford gasoline to make it to work. I starved when working at microsoft, I could never afford to use the the products I helped create! I have worked on the biggest products released the past ten years. I could never afford to buy their products. They even give workers a discount for their stuff, but this was a discount I could get looking online for the same stuff...Greed kills, its just that never makes the news....
Either you were part of the cleaning crew or you just don't like them. (Though I respect those people and I've done the same thing, unfortunately they are one of the lowest paid for their hard work) Don't worry. For every action there is a reaction. sooner or later all those greedy bastards will pay for their actions, maybe not with money, but with their life, not getting killed but with situations that will make them suffer. That's how life teaches. In spanish there is an idiom that says: "La vida no enseña ni con palo ni con rejo, si no con el pellejo" it's something like: life doesn't teach with stick or a whip, but with your skin (or one's neck) hope you get it.
Hopefully they fix the UI
after skype 4.2 the UI went downhill
Less info on the screen but it took more screen space. it was also harder to monitor levels and adjust volume and on top of that, if you go through the steps needed the microphone levels and settings window covers the chat area and other info while with 4.2 everything has it's own space and is more friendly to screen space.
@ anon_wa:
Dude, youve gotta be kidding me. I purchased my first copy of the full office suite on the employee discount, total price: $33. If you cannot afford $33 for a $500 product then you have some much bigger problems than your place of employment.
@ anon_wa
It seems you dont know what a divorce is.
Another dumb move by the billionaires at Microsoft. You can always expect the team at microsoft to spend billions on a technology that makes no sense, when they have lync. Has anyone even thought about this, or relaying propaganda. Lync already does all of this the skype does. Has anyone even thought about why they paid for this? This is the worst and final bad decision Ballmer is going to make. The fact is they just thew away billions on a company that was having trouble paying the books. They bought a company that was in debt. How are they going to make anything and get the billions back? They never will, its will be put on the taxpayers. The lose will be written off like no big deal, cause they can always pay off the local politicians and run ads promoting their kindness around all the homeless people that surrounds their buildings. If you ever been to Washignton and see the amount of people living outside, I doubt the carnival would last much longer. They figure its best to take on as much debt as possible so they can make the poor people pay for their losses. Why do you think they are still headquartered in Washington state. Cause they get kickbacks and the taxpayers pay for loss. Its the biggest racket yet. The world will know when its all over how they still had so much cash, when they have been in debt and LOSING for ten years and NOT selling os'. They have been writing off losses and coooking the books by office moves.They are the biggest problem for the internet community and other internet companies as they are representing the wroung way to do business. Rape from the poor, overcharge for a product that takes them 100k to create and they make billions in profit while the poor people still can not afford to buy anything. I worked at Microsoft TEN times. 10 time Microsoft worker and I never could afford to buy their own PC! Did I tell you that I have stood in line at the foodbank while working at Microsoft! Did I =tell you I could never afford gasoline to make it to work. I starved when working at microsoft, I could never afford to use the the products I helped create! I have worked on the biggest products released the past ten years. I could never afford to buy their products. They even give workers a discount for their stuff, but this was a discount I could get looking online for the same stuff. Again they provided me with a discount, touted around and promoted that employees get this wonderful discount at their shop on campus. NOT. This discount can be found just doing a simple search online. They are the biggest PROFITEERS and have HURT the evolution of the computer age. They represent the wrong way of life for everyone. People living just a few miles from their offices CAN NOT afford XP. Yet they would rather put XP intot he trashcan and let more people starve. There are people holding signs up on corners surrounding their offices. THese are people who have worked for them, after they are done, its back to the street. They do not care, only PROFIT is their main concern. Money is all they want. They have no purpose in the new world. They should be eradicated when the banks go. All the profiteers should be brought to real justice. The CRIMES they commit are silent and they pay others to keep quiet. They use lawyers and sideshow companies to do their dirty work. They worst company in the land that breeds business practices for the indu=stry for other to follow. They are evil and their profits display the need for reform and imprisonment. Greed kills, its just that never makes the news....
So if all profiteers should go, who will make anything?
Will you go out and work for free? From your rant it doesn't sound like it. In fact it sounds like you are angry you aren't given any of that money (given being the operative word).
And explain how they hurt the evolution of the computer age? Computing technology has exploded since the late 70's/early 80's since Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and others have been around.
Oh yeah, that profit motive you complained about, that is a HUGE reason why they, and other entrepeneurs do what they do. Go to any socialist country where profit is not allowed and see how innovative they are. You can't because they aren't.
Not to mention Bill Gates and his wife are some of the most philanthropic people in the world. He retired from Microsoft in order to work on his charitable organization.
microsoft msn realy sucks... imagine if the servers down... Now its time to movo to google phone... really fast
Another dumb move by the billionaires at Microsoft. You can always expect the team at microsoft to spend billions on a technology that makes no sense, when they have lync. Has anyone even thought about this, or relaying propaganda. Lync already does all of this the skype does. Has anyone even thought about why they paid for this? This is the worst and final bad decision Ballmer is going to make. The fact is they just thew away billions on a company that was having trouble paying the books. They bought a company that was in debt. How are they going to make anything and get the billions back? They never will, its will be put on the taxpayers. The lose will be written off like no big deal, cause they can always pay off the local politicians and run ads promoting their kindness around all the homeless people that surrounds their buildings. If you ever been to Washignton and see the amount of people living outside, I doubt the carnival would last much longer. They figure its best to take on as much debt as possible so they can make the poor people pay for their losses. Why do you think they are still headquartered in Washington state. Cause they get kickbacks and the taxpayers pay for loss. Its the biggest racket yet. The world will know when its all over how they still had so much cash, when they have been in debt and LOSING for ten years and NOT selling os'. They have been writing off losses and coooking the books by office moves.They are the biggest problem for the internet community and other internet companies as they are representing the wroung way to do business. Rape from the poor, overcharge for a product that takes them 100k to create and they make billions in profit while the poor people still can not afford to buy anything. I worked at Microsoft TEN times. 10 time Microsoft worker and I never could afford to buy their own PC! Did I tell you that I have stood in line at the foodbank while working at Microsoft! Did I =tell you I could never afford gasoline to make it to work. I starved when working at microsoft, I could never afford to use the the products I helped create! I have worked on the biggest products released the past ten years. I could never afford to buy their products. They even give workers a discount for their stuff, but this was a discount I could get looking online for the same stuff. Again they provided me with a discount, touted around and promoted that employees get this wonderful discount at their shop on campus. NOT. This discount can be found just doing a simple search online. They are the biggest PROFITEERS and have HURT the evolution of the computer age. They represent the wrong way of life for everyone. People living just a few miles from their offices CAN NOT afford XP. Yet they would rather put XP intot he trashcan and let more people starve. There are people holding signs up on corners surrounding their offices. THese are people who have worked for them, after they are done, its back to the street. They do not care, only PROFIT is their main concern. Money is all they want. They have no purpose in the new world. They should be eradicated when the banks go. All the profiteers should be brought to real justice. The CRIMES they commit are silent and they pay others to keep quiet. They use lawyers and sideshow companies to do their dirty work. They worst company in the land that breeds business practices for the indu=stry for other to follow. They are evil and their profits display the need for reform and imprisonment. Greed kills, its just that never makes the news....
An entity's main existence is to make a profit.
Whether that entity is a person, or a company.
We do business to make money. If you believe they dont pay you enough, negotiate or leave and go somewhere else. You accepted the terms of the agreement.
In your logic i should be in jail because all i've ever worked for is for a profit. a profit so i can buy things for myself. Actually, you should be in jail because you are working for a profit too. You complain they make too much money, yet you imply you want some of that money, which in turn would get you a profit. therefore you should go to jail for wanting that profit too.
You're right! Profit is their main concern, why would i set up a business if i cant make money? We live in a capitalist society. Dont like it? North Korea will set you up with a command economy, making the exact same as everyone else.
I dont think you will work for free. Well... Neither will microsoft, Suck it up.
All your Skype are belong to us.
I worked at Microsoft TEN times.
So you learnt after the 10th time or you lining up for another hardy meal?
First time shame on you...
...Second time shame on me...
...Tenth time rant on Toms?!
Maybe he worked there only 10 days, then either quit or got fired.
Another dumb move by the billionaires at Microsoft. You can always expect the team at microsoft to spend billions on a technology that makes no sense, when they have lync. Has anyone even thought about this, or relaying propaganda. Lync already does all of this the skype does. Has anyone even thought about why they paid for this? This is the worst and final bad decision Ballmer is going to make. The fact is they just thew away billions on a company that was having trouble paying the books. They bought a company that was in debt. How are they going to make anything and get the billions back? They never will, its will be put on the taxpayers. The lose will be written off like no big deal, cause they can always pay off the local politicians and run ads promoting their kindness around all the homeless people that surrounds their buildings. If you ever been to Washignton and see the amount of people living outside, I doubt the carnival would last much longer. They figure its best to take on as much debt as possible so they can make the poor people pay for their losses. Why do you think they are still headquartered in Washington state. Cause they get kickbacks and the taxpayers pay for loss. Its the biggest racket yet. The world will know when its all over how they still had so much cash, when they have been in debt and LOSING for ten years and NOT selling os'. They have been writing off losses and coooking the books by office moves.They are the biggest problem for the internet community and other internet companies as they are representing the wroung way to do business. Rape from the poor, overcharge for a product that takes them 100k to create and they make billions in profit while the poor people still can not afford to buy anything. I worked at Microsoft TEN times. 10 time Microsoft worker and I never could afford to buy their own PC! Did I tell you that I have stood in line at the foodbank while working at Microsoft! Did I =tell you I could never afford gasoline to make it to work. I starved when working at microsoft, I could never afford to use the the products I helped create! I have worked on the biggest products released the past ten years. I could never afford to buy their products. They even give workers a discount for their stuff, but this was a discount I could get looking online for the same stuff. Again they provided me with a discount, touted around and promoted that employees get this wonderful discount at their shop on campus. NOT. This discount can be found just doing a simple search online. They are the biggest PROFITEERS and have HURT the evolution of the computer age. They represent the wrong way of life for everyone. People living just a few miles from their offices CAN NOT afford XP. Yet they would rather put XP intot he trashcan and let more people starve. There are people holding signs up on corners surrounding their offices. THese are people who have worked for them, after they are done, its back to the street. They do not care, only PROFIT is their main concern. Money is all they want. They have no purpose in the new world. They should be eradicated when the banks go. All the profiteers should be brought to real justice. The CRIMES they commit are silent and they pay others to keep quiet. They use lawyers and sideshow companies to do their dirty work. They worst company in the land that breeds business practices for the indu=stry for other to follow. They are evil and their profits display the need for reform and imprisonment. Greed kills, its just that never makes the news....
Can you sum your problems up in a few sentences, not 3 paragraphs? Wouldn't saying "MS is greedy! I hate MS and their practices!" be much simpler and straightforward?
I hope they don't merge the Skype app with WLM. I don't like Windows Live Essentials.
Can you sum your problems up in a few sentences, not 3 paragraphs? Wouldn't saying "MS is greedy! I hate MS and their practices!" be much simpler and straightforward?
How about 3 sentences?
1. I'm(anon_wa) better at governing a multibillion$ global company.
2. I can't buy their products.
3. They are evil.
Somehow I have bounced back to the MS again.
Microsoft, being ridiculously stupid, overpaid big time to buy Skype.
8.5 billion was waaaaaaay tooooooo much.
@AnonWa that's so funny that you rail against the corporations, and yet you're using a telecommunication corporation's data network to connect to this site to rail on corporations. Oh, the irony is palpable! Go to your choice of one of those "Occupy _" protests (read: unauthorized-camps) and spit your venom there. True, it'll do no more good than posting it here (because what you say will NEVER do any good, since it is flawed thinking), at least you'll be without an Internet connection and we won't have to hear it.
Back on topic now, my only concern is that Microsoft may choose to drop Linux support, which is a big feature of Skype to me as a Linux user.
Another dumb move by the billionaires at Microsoft. You can always expect the team at microsoft to spend billions on a technology that makes no sense, when they have lync. Has anyone even thought about this, or relaying propaganda. Lync already does all of this the skype does. Has anyone even thought about why they paid for this? This is the worst and final bad decision Ballmer is going to make. The fact is they just thew away billions on a company that was having trouble paying the books. They bought a company that was in debt. How are they going to make anything and get the billions back? They never will, its will be put on the taxpayers. The lose will be written off like no big deal, cause they can always pay off the local politicians and run ads promoting their kindness around all the homeless people that surrounds their buildings. If you ever been to Washignton and see the amount of people living outside, I doubt the carnival would last much longer. They figure its best to take on as much debt as possible so they can make the poor people pay for their losses. Why do you think they are still headquartered in Washington state. Cause they get kickbacks and the taxpayers pay for loss. Its the biggest racket yet. The world will know when its all over how they still had so much cash, when they have been in debt and LOSING for ten years and NOT selling os'. They have been writing off losses and coooking the books by office moves.They are the biggest problem for the internet community and other internet companies as they are representing the wroung way to do business. Rape from the poor, overcharge for a product that takes them 100k to create and they make billions in profit while the poor people still can not afford to buy anything. I worked at Microsoft TEN times. 10 time Microsoft worker and I never could afford to buy their own PC! Did I tell you that I have stood in line at the foodbank while working at Microsoft! Did I =tell you I could never afford gasoline to make it to work. I starved when working at microsoft, I could never afford to use the the products I helped create! I have worked on the biggest products released the past ten years. I could never afford to buy their products. They even give workers a discount for their stuff, but this was a discount I could get looking online for the same stuff. Again they provided me with a discount, touted around and promoted that employees get this wonderful discount at their shop on campus. NOT. This discount can be found just doing a simple search online. They are the biggest PROFITEERS and have HURT the evolution of the computer age. They represent the wrong way of life for everyone. People living just a few miles from their offices CAN NOT afford XP. Yet they would rather put XP intot he trashcan and let more people starve. There are people holding signs up on corners surrounding their offices. THese are people who have worked for them, after they are done, its back to the street. They do not care, only PROFIT is their main concern. Money is all they want. They have no purpose in the new world. They should be eradicated when the banks go. All the profiteers should be brought to real justice. The CRIMES they commit are silent and they pay others to keep quiet. They use lawyers and sideshow companies to do their dirty work. They worst company in the land that breeds business practices for the indu=stry for other to follow. They are evil and their profits display the need for reform and imprisonment. Greed kills, its just that never makes the news....
Wow, did you pause for breathe even once during that?
...
Here's the thing, if you own a PC, drive a car, go on vacation, eat food, live in a house and sleep in a bed you are a total hypocrite.
...
If you do any of those things you should stop and divert the money to helping the poor people instead of moaning at everyone else, y'know, become a modern day Mother Theresa.
...
Am I a hypocrite? No because I couldn't give a damn about the homeless pieces of shit that I walk past everyday, 90% of them could get their asses up off the floor and go find a job and the ones who are suffering some kind of mental illness need to avail themselves of the countries medical establishment and if diagnosed they will be taken care of, but the rest who sit in doorways drinking gasoline and pissing their pants until it runs into the gutter I could easily just sweep up into a huge garbage truck and off them to make Soylent Green.
...
In the meantime if you have quite finished riding your white horse at the top of that ivory tower maybe you should run for President, then you could really do something about it apart from busting the balls of everyone in a technology forum.
How about 3 sentences?1. I'm(anon_wa) better at governing a multibillion$ global company.2. I can't buy their products.3. They are evil.
How about:-
1. I worked at MS but claim not to have been able to afford food or gas, therefore,
2. I must have a drinking, drug or gambling problem, and
3. I worked for them 10 times, because, y'know, each time I quit I couldn't find a better paid job as a toilet cleaner so I was forced to go back to working for the biggest software company in the world.