Microsoft acquiring Skype for $8.5 bn

Microsoft Corp is acquiring internet phone firm Skype Technologies for around $8.5 billion, including long-term debt, which according to analysts, marks the most aggressive acquisition move by the software giant to gain a hold on the increasingly converged worlds of communication, information and entertainment.

''Microsoft Corp is close to a deal to buy Internet phone company Skype Technologies SA for between $7 billion and $8 billion,'' The Wall Street Journal reported - though some commentators like Om Malik of GigaOm networks asserted the deal had already been sealed for $8.5 billion and a publich announcement was round the corner.

The report said the deal could be announced as early as today. It cited people familiar with the matter.  

Skype, was launched in 2003 by Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis. The latter also developed a file-sharing technology called Kazaa came to be associated with music piracy. Zennström and Friis, with their 14-percent stake, are expected to make about $1.19 billion out of the deal.

While Skype initially gained popularity with techies, it gradually gained a foothold into the mainstream with free to cheap phone calls, that appealed mostly to international callers.

Online market place eBay Inc in a 2005 acquisition paid $2.6 billion for the company and in 2009, sold a 70-per cent stake in Skype to an investor group that included Silver Lake and Andreessen Horowitz for nearly $2 billion. while retaining a third of the company. eBay is expected to make about $2.6 billion by divesting its remaining 30-per cent stake, while Silver lAke will make $4.76 billion for its 56-per cent stake.