Skype now officially part of Microsoft

Microsoft Corp. have finally closed the acquisition of Skype Global, transaction that was originally announced in May, and has now resulted in Skype becoming a division of Microsoft.

The negotiations of the definitive agreement for the acquisition of Skype by Microsoft for an amount of $8.5 billion were led by the investor group Silver Lake.

Skype and Microsoft will remain on their current course of action, with both companies looking at the same goal of connecting all people across all devices, the merging of those two companies will only see an improvement in the transformation of real-time communications for consumers and enterprises.

“Skype is a phenomenal product and brand that is loved by hundreds of millions of people around the world,” said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. “We look forward to working with the Skype team to create new ways for people to stay connected to family, friends, clients and colleagues — anytime, anywhere.”

Nothing really big changes, Skype still maintains its various offices around the world, the only difference being that Skype becomes a Microsoft division and that the former CEO of Skype, Tony Bates, becomes the president of the Skype Division of Microsoft and is now therefore reporting directly to Ballmer.

The Skype services remains uninterrupted, Microsoft will now start to include the service in other products to widen the reach of the real-time communication.

Source