Microsoft Drops $8.5 Billion on the Purchase of Skype

One of the industries leading titans in technology has bought the innovative internet chat company that allows friends and family to stay in touch over the internet, Skype for a lump sum of $8.5 billion. This transaction beats out Microsoft's previous purchase of aQuantive for $6 billion as the largest purchase that the company has made to date.

After Microsoft made the announcement, many were left wondering why Microsoft would take a gamble on Skype who has a long term debt of $686 million and the company suffered a loss last year of around $7 million according to Wired. Microsoft would also be paying an average $1,000 per customer and only receiving $30 back in profit which is another reason many are left scratching their heads at this decision.

Microsoft has not offered any concrete details as to why they made the purchase, however one has to wonder if Microsoft plans on bringing Skype to the Xbox 360 via Kinect or even merging Windows Live Messenger with the Skype capabilities. There are many possibilites, but until Microsoft announces their exact plans for their purchase of Skype, we will just have to keep guessing.

via Wired