Microsoft to Acquire Skype
Posted by Jesse Ward on Tuesday, May 10, 2011 · 
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Microsoft Corp. announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Skype for $8.5 billion in cash from the investor group led by Silver Lake. The agreement has been approved by the boards of directors of both Microsoft and Skype.
Microsoft said that the deal will increase the accessibility of real-time video and voice communications, bringing benefits to both consumers and enterprise users and generating significant new business and revenue opportunities.
With 170 million connected users and more than 207 billion minutes of voice and video conversations in 2010, Skype is the world’s most popular Internet communications service. Microsoft has a long-standing focus and investment in real-time communications across its various platforms, including Lync (which saw 30% revenue growth in Q3), Outlook, Messenger, Hotmail and Xbox LIVE. Read more
Skype Partners with Citrix on New Service for Businesses
Posted by Jesse Ward on Monday, March 7, 2011 · ·
Skype announced last week that it is working with software vendor Citrix to create a new conference calling service targeted at enterprise users. The service, which is expected to be available near the end of the year, will let multiple people talk, see each other through online video and share documents.
Skype already offers a free conference calling service that allows just two users to meet online and share their computer screens. To create the new paid offering, Skype will incorporate Citrix’s GotoMeeting capabilities with its existing technologies. The new service will allow Skype’s business users to converse with more people, including users that have joined the call via Skype or through public switched telephone network (PSTN) phone numbers. In addition, it will enable rich and interactive screen sharing, whereby meeting hosts can present, annotate and highlight applications on their computer screen. Read more
Facebook Testing a VoIP Feature?
Posted by Jesse Ward on Friday, January 28, 2011 · ·
According to various user reports, Facebook is testing an integrated VoIP feature. If the rumor proves true, this new functionality will place the social networking giant in direct competition with Google Voice, Skype and Magic Jack. Various first-hand have witnessed the new, embedded call functionality appear within the Facebook graphical user interface, only to have the feature disappear moments later.
It’s not clear if Facebook is developing this new integrated voice application in-house or if it is working with a partner company (such as Skype). Facebook refused to comment on the rumor.
For more, see screen shots of the reported new feature.
Skype Sets 27 Million Simultaneous User Record
Posted by Jesse Ward on Tuesday, January 18, 2011 · ·
Companies like Google and magicJack continue to chase industry heavyweight Skype. Skype, a leading online video and voice chat provider, has been aggressively building up its service with the acquisition of mobile software provider Qik at CES last week, and a new Apple mobile app released just a few weeks ago.
Last week Skype reported a milestone: 27 million simultaneous users. On a typical day, Skype usually reports 25 million simultaneous users during peak usage hours.
A recent TeleGeography research note observes that Skype continues to grow at an astonishing rate, with Skype users accounting for approximately 102.5 billion call minutes over the past year – or one out of every five international call minutes made during that time. Read more
Skype Releases New Software, Integrates with Facebook
Posted by Jesse Ward on Monday, October 18, 2010 · ·
Late last week Skype launched a new version of its PC software, Skype 5.0, available now for Windows machines. The VoIP application has a new “revitalized look and feel” in addition to new functionality. (See the video after the jump.)
As predicted, Skype is now integrated with Facebook. The new software allows Skype users to login to their Facebook accounts and perform a variety of Facebook tasks from within the Skype interface. By meshing the Facebook News Feed and Phonebook contact list with the Skype interface, users are able to view and post messages to their Facebook activity stream, comment on others’ posts, and communicate via SMS, phone and the Skype VoIP service.
In addition to the Facebook integration, Skype 5.0 also introduces a free trial of group video calling. Skype users are increasingly connecting via video, accounting for approximately 40% of all Skype-to-Skype minutes in the first half of this year, according to the company. Read more
Facebook and Skype in Talks
Posted by Jesse Ward on Monday, October 4, 2010 · ·
Social networking giant Facebook and Internet VoIP provider Skype are in talks to mesh their communications services more closely, according to an exclusive report in the online Wall Street Journal blog All Things Digital which has been repeatedly cited by the tech news media.
The companies are said to be on the verge of announcing a “significant and wide-ranging partnership that will include integration of SMS, voice and video chat.” According to a person familiar with the matter, Facebook users will be able to sign into Skype through their Facebook Connect accounts. Users will then be able to text message, voice chat and video chat with their Facebook friends from within Skype.
According to the person familiar with the matter the integrated functions are built into Skype’s 5.0 version, which is expected to be released in the next few weeks.
The partnership will link Skype’s 560 million registered users—124 million of whom use it at least once a month—with Facebook’s 500 million members, many of whom interact with the social networking application on a daily or weekly basis. If the rumor comes to fruition it likely will pose a formidable challenge for Google which just last month integrated Google Voice into its Gmail e-mail service.
For more, see this All Things Digital post.
Skype Files for IPO
Posted by Jesse Ward on Monday, August 9, 2010 · ·
VoIP provider Skype is preparing for an initial public offering (IPO), according to an S-1 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The Luxembourg-based company estimated the value of the offering at $100 million.
Back in November 2009 eBay sold a 65% stake in Skype to private equity investors for about $1.9 billion. In regards to the IPO, Skype has yet to release who is selling, how many shares will be offered and the price range of said shares. The IPO will be handled by Goldman, Sachs & Co., J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley and a few other financial firms. Once it is completed, the company will be traded on the NASDAQ.
Skype currently boasts more than 560 million registered users; however, only 124 million are active on monthly basis, and 8.1 million are monthly paying users. The average user pays $96 a year for the service. Skype users placed 95 billion calling minutes in the first half of 2010, approximately 40% of which were video calls.
Calls between Skype users are free. The company makes most of its money from SkypeOut, a service which allows Skype users to place landline and cellular calls.
For more, read this press release, and this Gigaom article.