![]() While Skype has a name among consumers, it has barely bumped along on profitability. ![]() That is run by its huge Office division, one of Microsoft's two biggest profit centres along with the Windows division. Microsoft already has a voice-over-internet offering, called Lync, which combines email, instant messaging and voice communications into a single program. ![]() Google previously looked at purchasing Skype in 2005, but decided against it because of questions over patent ownership – essential patents for the service are owned by a company linked to Skype's founders – and doubts about integration into its own offerings. Its online service division, which includes its Bing search engine, has lost $8bn over the past six years, and has not been profitable since the end of 2005. Microsoft's online efforts have been staggering loss-makers over the past few years. Skype has debt of $686m, which Microsoft would assume in the purchase. Ironically, the suggested price would make its 30% stake worth $2.4bn – effectively making money on the deal long-term. But the synergistic ideas never materialised, and eBay wrote down Skype's value by $1.4bn, before selling off a 70% stake at the end of 2007. Skype was bought by eBay for $2.6bn in 2005: at the time people suggested its services could be incorporated into auctions so that bidders or sellers could call each other ahead of their close. News of the deal and Microsoft's interest in Skype was first reported by the Wall Street Journal online and the technology site GigaOM.Īnalysts have broadly favoured the idea of the deal, but questioned whether it could ever be worth the price. Tony Bates, the chief executive hired from Cisco last year, has reportedly been exploring the idea of joint ventures or a sale to Google and Facebook. Rumours last week suggested Facebook, Google or Cisco Systems were interested in acquiring it to fold into their own services. Speculation has been rife in Silicon Valley for months about Skype's future. Analysts suggested the service could be integrated into existing Microsoft products such as its Xbox 360 games console and Kinect gaming systems, or even into its flagship Office product to let users collaborate more effectively. The acquisition, which is expected to be announced on Tuesday, would be Microsoft's biggest, ahead the $6bn it paid for online advertising company aQuantive in 2007, and would bring it 660 million users worldwide while giving it a foothold in voice and video communications.
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