Microsoft acquires Skype for $8.500 million

After a week that it was speculated that Skype would be in talks with Google and Facebook for a possible merger, acquisition or joint project, newspapers and specialized technology blogs such as All Things Digital y GigaOM, ensure that the deal has already been done and it would be announced this Wednesday 11th May. Both, Microsoft and Skype made no comments.

The Wall Street Journal indicates that the agreement could reach up to $8500 million, which would be the biggest purchase in the history of Microsoft.
This acquisition will allow Microsoft to compete with services such as GTalk, Google Voice and Apple’s FaceTime, one of the most important bets of iPhone 4 and iPad 2.
It is therefore not surprising that Microsoft’s eyes are placed on Skype as its communication system for Windows Phone 7 phones which is now being developed with Nokia. If Microsoft adds Skype to its instant messaging service Windows Live Messenger, it will create a stronger rival for Google and Apple.

Facebook, with Microsoft´s investment, could also benefit from such agreement. For some time the network has begun to integrate with the Microsoft messaging service, and it is quite likely to do the same with Skype.