On May 10, 2011, software giant Microsoft announced a $8.5 billion deal to acquire internet telephone company Skype SA from a group of sellers that include eBay Inc. and private equity firms Silver Lake and Andreessen Horowitz. The acquision marks the largest transaction in 36-year history of the software giant. Microsoft will use Skype's 170 million users to leverage its growth with its universal tools and applicatios such as XBOX game console, outlook e-mail program and Windows smartphones. However, 95% of the Skype customers use the service free of any charge, making it almost impossible for Skype to make money just by calling since it was founded in 2003 by the two entrepreneurs Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis.
On October 14, 2011, Microsoft closed the $8.5 billion deal.
Source: The Dallas Morning News
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