14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft is again interested in a deal over the Dailymotion video service that would allow the software giant to compete against large video sharing services such as YouTube.
According to a report released by the Wall Street Journal, Microsoft and Orange are already discussing a potential deal that would see the Redmond-based company investing in Dailymotion and helping expand the website.
Orange Chief Executive Stephane Richard said in an interview with French television channel BFM TV that Microsoft is currently involved in negotiations, but no decision has been made yet on Dailymotion.
“Talks continue…with Microsoft,” Richards was quoted as saying. “This doesn't mean that we will reach an agreement.”
Of course, it’s not yet clear what Microsoft’s role in Dailymotion’s expansion would be if the deal goes through, but according to the same report, Orange would keep a majority stake in the video service, so Redmond would most likely provide the necessary funds and know-how for specific improvements.
This isn’t the first time that Microsoft is interested in purchasing Dailymotion and, according to some older reports, the software giant previously negotiated a potential takeover that would help it compete against Google and YouTube.
Such an investment pretty much makes sense for the company as it continues the transition to devices and services and tries to focus more on other businesses than software.
Former Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer started a so-called One Microsoft plan in mid-2013, trying to push the software empire towards a completely new approach that would help it expand in yet unexplored markets.
One of Microsoft’s biggest bets concerned the hardware side of the industry, which it tried to conquer with the Surface tablet. The first-generation Surface, however, proved to be rather unsuccessful, with the company forced to come down to a $900 million (€680 million) write-down needed because of unsold tablets across the world.
Microsoft never admitted publicly that the Surface had been a failure, but the company did launch the second-generation tablet that brought improvements for both the RT and the Pro models.
What’s more, the tech giant confirmed with several occasions that it’s trying to switch the focus from software to services, which means that products such as Office 365, cloud-based storage service SkyDrive, and Windows Azure are very likely to receive improvements in the coming years as part of Microsoft’s new strategy that’s now continued by new boss Satya Nadella.