
Bill Gates says he advocated Skype takeover - ssclafani
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13434352
======
illumen
Skype has 13% of calls. It has lots of connections to the various different
telephone networks all around the world. MS bought the largest
telecommunications company. MS wants into telecommunications in a big way.

Skype has a product that corporate users want - voip/conference calls/video
conferencing. MS has access to that market, which Skype did not really have.

Skype has a massive user base(663 million registered users as of 2010). These
users also have contact lists - business, friends, and family. Think of these
social connections in a user base larger than facebook. MS wants more into
social.

Skype has a massive amount of peoples credit cards on file, and agreements
with those people.

Skype has a huge botnet(110 million+ active nodes). Many of the computers
running Skype process data, and use their internet pipe for Skype. Remember
Skype is a P2P network.

The Skype brand is quite strong, and is something people like. MS needs to buy
into brands like Skype, which people love - since many people hate the MS
brand.

Then there is the raw talent they are buying. These are some seriously good
hackers, and business people.

I think MS got Skype for a great price.

~~~
sayemm
Great points. What's more is that they pre-empt and sort of sidestep Google
out of a big part of this too. People who criticize the high price paid for
Skype should also think about their decision to invest in Facebook at a $15bn
valuation early on - another bold move by Gates.

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keithwinstein
Bill Gates is a savvy guy, but come on, he is the chairman of the board of
directors of a Fortune 50 company. What's he going to say -- he was tepid on
the deal they just spent $8.5 billion on? Boards don't operate like this (that
is to say, boards don't air their internal disagreements or criticize sitting
management in public).

~~~
spinchange
How about nothing at all? If he truly thought the deal sucked, there are a lot
of politically correct ways to feign corporate enthusiasm without saying "I
was a strong proponent at the board level for the deal being done."

He's pretty much _personally_ endorsing the deal, which is not savvy if he's
tepid on it.

~~~
OneWhoFrogs
It doesn't have to do with political correctness, but rather stock price. If
it comes out that Bill Gates thought this was a bad move, Microsoft shares
will fall. He'd be hitting himself on the head with a hammer.

~~~
yequalsx
They would fall in the short term and then rise when a new CEO would be found.
I doubt Ballmer would be able to stay as CEO if Gates went against him. Gates
is not worried about fluctuations in the stock price of Microsoft. He's a long
term investor.

~~~
OneWhoFrogs
You seem to be saying that if Gates didn't support the decision, then he would
try to get Ballmer out. I disagree -- this isn't a big enough issue for that.
(Edit: I should clarify. It _is_ a big issue, but Ballmer wasn't acting on his
own. Replacing him would accomplish little.) So while Gates _is_ a long term
investor, it still makes no sense for him to speak his mind on this at the
cost of stock price. It might not affect him much, but why discourage others
from investing, even the slightest bit?

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pedalpete
I think a big part of the value for MS will be skype as a voip development
platform.

<https://extras.skype.com/>

for the corporate world, MS can probably do some big upselling into the PBX
world.

I think their could be some interesting tie-ins to getting an integrated
system working between the pbx of the company you are contacting, and web-
based support. Theoretically skype could provide that for their already
installed base.

~~~
dreamux
Microsoft already has a VoIP stack for enterprise through their "Microsoft
Unified Communications", and its already integrated into many of their
products, esp office (though my knowledge/understanding of this product line
is limited).

I think the value behind the Skype acquisition is as a consumer-facing VoIP
solution; think of integration with windows phone, windows messenger, and
xbox. Its great for consumers because its a brand that grandmothers are
familiar and comfortable with.

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kasperset
"I think it's a great, great deal for Skype. I think it's a great deal for
Microsoft," he added.

Great,great for Skype but just great for Microsoft.

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famousactress
_"It'll be fascinating to see how the brilliant ideas out of Microsoft
research, coming together with Skype, what they can make of that."_

Really, I promise.. I'm not trying to be snarky... but can someone point out
to me recent examples of "brilliant ideas out of Microsoft research" making a
dent in the world I live in lately? I'm struggling.

[Edit - Quora-style-summary]:

1\. Kinect, mostly

[Edit - soft apology / further expression of confusion]:

So, ample down-votes so far (expected), and lots of comments.. but still very
limited in terms of interesting input about projects that have come out of MSR
that have (as I put it) made a dent in the world. So far lots of people
pointing at Kinect (and one person pointing out it was acquired), some noise
about Surface, a mention of .NET. Honestly, none of which have made my life
any better. That's not a bad thing though. I guess maybe I'm in the minority,
and lots of you are living in a much better world because of Surface, or
something.

At any rate, sorry if I've offended. I really wasn't attempting to call
bullshit on MSR at all, I was genuinely curious (and yes, a little cynically
suspicious).

~~~
sad_bug_killer
Kinect is the closest I can think of. Not sure if you live in that world.

~~~
eyeareque
Microsoft acquired the Kinect technology.

~~~
shriphani
Oh my god not the "Kinect was acquired Herpa-Derp" argument again. On the
kinect sensor, there's pose estimation being performed @ 200 fps which is the
product of work done @ MSR. Here is the paper that describes how the kinect
does pose estimation faster than any comparable tech on the market :
[http://research.microsoft.com/apps/pubs/default.aspx?id=1453...](http://research.microsoft.com/apps/pubs/default.aspx?id=145347)

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brisance
What are Skype's patent holdings? Could those be worth $8.5 billion?

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johnrob
MS has had its own video conferencing via MSN messenger for years. I don't see
the value of spending 8.5 billion in order to get Skype's tech - I would think
that money would be better spent on a very fat pipe on which to run the live
video.

~~~
pkamb
Swype's tech? Who wants that? Now Skype' name/brand/subscribers/creditcards on
the other hand...

~~~
skeletonjelly
*Skype. Swype is the Android keyboard.

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joshaidan
I wonder how the Skype purchase will affect Messenger.

~~~
RuadhanMc
Hopefully it means the death of Messenger. And hopefully they don't make Skype
like Messenger. They really did their best to kill Messenger over the years
with all the re-writes.

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aneth
If you look at the language: "I was a strong proponent at the board level for
the deal being done"

What was he at other levels?

The presence of "at the board level" is distancing language. If he was
personally fully behind the deal, he would be likely not to include that
phrase and to add that information in a different structure.

My take is he's uncomfortable with the deal and was likely not fully behind
it.

~~~
michael_dorfman
That's a very unnatural way to read the sentence.

Bill's role _is_ at the board level these days. He's not actively involved in
the day-to-day running of the company.

But a decision of this magnitude is, without a doubt, a board-level decision.
And there, at the very highest level possible, Bill was a strong proponent, he
says.

And somehow you read this as him not being fully behind it?

~~~
aneth
Yes, he's at the board level, so he has no need to qualify his statement and
introduce ambiguity.

If you take everyone, particularly people with great power, at the surface
level of their language, you are missing most of the meaning. Indirect and
qualified statements are usually that way for a reason. Read up on this - I'm
sure you'll be fascinated.

