Microsoft closes Skype deal

Stephen Withers
Monday, 17 October 2011 08:32

IT Industry - Listed Tech

 

Despite some remaining regulatory issues in certain countries, Microsoft has closed its acquisition of Skype.

 

Microsoft agreed to acquire Skype back in May, but regulatory issues mean such deals cannot be completed overnight. But approval has been gained in the jurisdictions most important to the company, and the deal has been closed.

 

"The acquisition remains under review in a few countries, and will be completed in those countries when such reviews are closed," Microsoft officials stated.

Initially at least, Skype will operate as a division of Microsoft and will remain under the management of former Skype CEO Tony Bates, who becomes president of the Skype division, reporting to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. The division will continue to offer its existing products and services.

"Microsoft is committed to the ubiquity of the Skype experience - communication across every device and every platform will remain a primary focus," said Mr Bates. That depends on how you define 'platform' - shortly after the Microsoft/Skype deal was announced, Skype notified Digium that it would not be renewing the software licensing agreement that allowed Digium to create and distribute Skype for Asterisk, an add-on that allowed the Asterisk PABX software to join the Skype network as a native client.

In the longer term, the plan is to integrate Skype into "an array of Microsoft products". That could include Office 365, which currently only supports voice communication with peers, not to or from phone numbers.

Other possibilities include merging Skype and Live Messenger.

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