14 DAY TRIAL // After lots of rumors and some intense speculation, Microsoft has announced that it officially purchased Skype from an investment group led by Silver Lake for the whopping amount of $8.5 billion.
Microsoft was rumored to be interested in Skype in the last few days, but the two companies didn't talk about such things when asked by various media outlets for comment.
Now, the North American corporation has officially revealed that it has purchased Skype, the company that runs one of the most popular Voice-over-IP services in the world.
“Skype is a phenomenal service that is loved by millions of people around the world,” said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. “Together we will create the future of real-time communications so people can easily stay connected to family, friends, clients and colleagues anywhere in the world.”
The Redmond-based corporation will use Skype technology not only on products like Lync, Outlook, Messenger or Hotmail, but also implement it on its gaming devices, in the form of the Xbox 360 console and the Kinect motion detection sensor.
While it's not clear just how Microsoft is going to use the Skype technology with its gaming endeavors, Xbox 360 and Kinect owners should expect sweeping changes to be made to the voice chat service, using either the regular Xbox Live headset or the microphone built into the Kinect device, and the possibility to tie their Xbox Live accounts to their Skype ones.
The acquisition is extremely important to the North American software and gaming giant, so Microsoft is establishing its own Skype division, which is going to report directly to Ballmer and be led by current Skype CEO Tony Bates.
The sale still needs to be finalized and is subject to regulatory approvals, but you can expect Skype services to start being built into various Microsoft products, as well as in new Xbox Live features, throughout the year.