The long term vision is for Microsoft to be the hub of your voice and video communications, no matter what device you happen to be using, and Skype is a crucial part of that.
Buying Skype was also a defensive move, designed to fend off competition from Google and Cisco in the enterprise markets, and to give Microsoft a key player in the mobile Voice over IP market - a market that's still very much in its infancy, and one where Microsoft has been taking baby steps. Skype Technologies S.A.R.L (also known as Skype Software S.A.R.L, Skype Communications S.A.R.L, Skype Inc., and Skype Limited) is a Luxembourgish telecommunications company headquartered in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, whose chief business is the manufacturing and marketing of the video chat and instant messaging computer software program Skype, and various Internet telephony services. However, the acquisition wasn't just about monetising Skype's users.
The numbers are improving - the Skype division's revenues (not profits) are up to $2 billion compared to Skype's $800 million in 2011, although the newer numbers also include Lync - but it'll be a while before Microsoft gets its money back. $8.5 billion - 32 times Skype's operating profit - was much, much more than Skype was worth, with Steve Ballmer betting that Skype's long-term growth would justify paying what most analysts agreed was four times Skype's value. Microsoft has bought Skype for 8.5 billion, in an all cash deal. The big question is whether Microsoft overpaid, and the answer is simple: of course it did.
Skype has been integrated with to deliver Google Hangout-style chat
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