The Microsoft Corp. deal to buy Internet phone company Skype Technologies SA comes out to a cool buyout price of $8.5 billion in cash. Skype was first sold to eBay in 2005 at what now looks like a bargain at $2.5b. They in turn sold most of it off to Silver Lake in 2009 at an overall valuation of $2.75b.
At a value over $8 billion, the Skype deal ranks as the biggest acquisition in the 36-year history of Microsoft, which as a company has traditionally shied away from large deals.