Technology Tuesday

Microsoft is reportedly in the final stages of negotiations to purchase Skype from its founders and Ebay for about $8.5 billion, when factoring in Skype's debt. (Recall that Ebay purchased Skype in 2005 for $2.6 billion.) While Skype filed registration statements last fall to launch an initial public offering, those plans were delayed once it began talks with suitors such as Google and Facebook. Gaining access to Skype's 683 million users and the internet-based phone/video infrasture could mean a big advantage for Microsoft in its on-going "strategic confrontation" with Google. 

The deal could be officially announced today...if so, I will post an update.  For now though, the best description of the talks can be found at NYT's Dealbook.  Other technology news regarding Google, Apple, and LinkedIn can be found here.

Anne Tucker