Microsoft to buy Skype for $7 billion • Hacker News Board

Re: Microsoft to buy Skype for $7 billion

#131

Post by dasil003 » Tue, May 10, 2011, 5:46 AM UTC

codelion wrote: post #118

lurker19 wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Skype 2.8 for Mac exists and is from better user experience than any Windows or Linux version.

Surely, you are not aware what is a better user experience.

Yes I am and don't call me Surely?

(sorry, punctuation nazi + Airplane reference temptation overwhelming)

Re: Microsoft to buy Skype for $7 billion

#132

Post by neworbit » Tue, May 10, 2011, 5:51 AM UTC

firebones wrote: post #101

johns wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

35 million each, not 350

Ackppttthtt, my fail. Still not a lot of $35 million exits, but significantly more of those than $350 million. The point still holds though--not sure there are 200 of those $35 million exits either. (Isn't that still almost twice the size of a CDBaby exit?)

Yeah but come on, CD Baby is a warehousing and fulfillment company with a niche market that basically gets paid by starry-eyed musicians to let CDs gather dust and paid again to encode their music and send it to iTunes. Some small fraction of the bands actually sold enough to restock inventory. That's not a recipe for high margin success.

Re: Microsoft to buy Skype for $7 billion

#133

Post by neworbit » Tue, May 10, 2011, 5:53 AM UTC

firebones wrote: post #106

neworbit wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

a) Probably, though I bet I don't know most of them. If I were MS M&A I would bet disproportionately on mobile, though, because that's an area they need to nail if they want to stay relevant. If they could get 70 out of 200, that'd be a darn good start. b) Individually, not terribly likely. Collectively? Sure. (And it's $35M each, but the exact number isn't the point - let's say you could offer every ycombinator and…

To the extent that my math was way wrong, I think your point carries more weight (meaning: you're an order of magnitude better than I thought). I'd say if they bought the top 10 mobile plays for $70 million each they'd have a much better expectation (assuming that the acquisitions could be digested--risk which itself carries a significant reduction in expected value).

As far as network effect, I would pay a bundle for Twilio if I was in an M&A position.

Re: Microsoft to buy Skype for $7 billion

#134

Post by philwelch » Tue, May 10, 2011, 5:56 AM UTC

dstein wrote: post #66

philwelch wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It will serve the long term interests of Microsoft shareholders; sadly, Microsoft doesn't realize that.

Dividends reward short term shareholders. Capital reinvestment rewards long term shareholders (if it's successful).

Is it better for shareholders to reinvest dividends from mature firms into growing firms, or for mature firms to continue investing in their own stalled growth?

Re: Microsoft to buy Skype for $7 billion

#135

Post by shadowpwner » Tue, May 10, 2011, 5:58 AM UTC

ecoffey wrote: post #119

Luyt wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"With $7B they should have just given away about 15 million Windows Mobile phones in the form of an epic PR stunt." This instantly reminds me of the CueCat [1], which Wired sent out to half a million subscribers. I admit, a phone (even a WP7 one) could be a million times more useful than a CueCat ;-) [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuecat [2] http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000037.html

Really interesting reading that Joel on Software now. Had me thinking of the Jimmy Fallon skit where someone held up a QR code in the background that I scanned with my phone, opened in mobile youtube, and I was watching more content.

Off topic, but that was the one with Stephen Colbert singing Friday, correct?

Re: Microsoft to buy Skype for $7 billion

#136

Post by kooshball » Tue, May 10, 2011, 6:00 AM UTC

lookingchris wrote: post #110

sukuriant wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have loyalty to Skype. And this is infinitely better than Facebook owning Skype, imo

MS and FB are practically the same ethics-wise to me. I'd be interested to hear more of your thoughts on this.

What do you mean by this? As opposed to Google and Apple?

Re: Microsoft to buy Skype for $7 billion

#137

Post by rbot » Tue, May 10, 2011, 6:03 AM UTC

Think J Allard's meeting at Skype in January has anything to do with this?

Re: Microsoft to buy Skype for $7 billion

#138

Post by teyc » Tue, May 10, 2011, 6:07 AM UTC

raganwald wrote: post #129

lurker19 wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mac is not a PC. Apple will hesitate a long while before bringing Facetime to the PC, because Facetime promotes all-important lock-in to the Apple ecosystem and sells Apple hardware.

I will bet a bottle of single malt that Apple will bring FaceTime to the PC. I agree that FaceTime sells Apple hardware, but I think the hardware they want to sell is the iOS product line. Weigh how many Mac sales the will lose if people can get FaceTime on a PC against how many iPhone and iPad sales they will make to people who can now chat with Grandma on her PC? Ubiquity on the desktop and exclusivity on the mobil…

Exactly, especially if the PC Facetime is crippled so that it can only chat to iOS devices.

Re: Microsoft to buy Skype for $7 billion

#139

Post by nl » Tue, May 10, 2011, 6:09 AM UTC

I wonder who leaked this?

Was it someone from Skype (or their VCs) trying to start a bidding war?

Or someone from Microsoft trying to kill the deal (or get Google to overpay)?

Re: Microsoft to buy Skype for $7 billion

#140

Post by braindead_in » Tue, May 10, 2011, 6:13 AM UTC

Will be interesting to see what happens to the Skype API. It's used by a lot of 3rd party plugins and is quite comprehensive. Hopefully they will not kill it.