Microsoft Buys Skype, Facebook Wins…

What’s the Latest Development?

Microsoft has bought Skype for $8.5 billion, in an all cash deal. Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer of Microsoft is said to be a big champion of the deal, the largest in the history of the company. Gigaom sees it as a good bet because Skype gives Microsoft a boost in the enterprise collaboration market, and it gives Microsoft a working relationship with carriers, among other reasons. But “the biggest winner of this deal could actually be Facebook.” 

What’s the Big Idea?

Facebook stands to win because it had little or no chance of buying Skype. “With Microsoft, it gets the best of both worlds — it gets access to Skype assets (Microsoft is an investor in Facebook) and it gets to keep Skype away from Google.”