Business/Finance

Microsoft to buy Internet phone company Skype

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

FILE - In this Jan. 11, 2011 file photo, the Skype logo is reflected in the eye of a reader using a handheld smartphone, in Berlin, Germany. Microsoft Corp. is nearing a deal to buy the popular Internet telephone service Skype in what could be the biggest deal in the software maker's 36-year history, according to a published report Tuesday, May 10, 2011. (AP Photo / AP Photo/Patrick Sinkel, file)

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microsoft, skype, business/finance

Associated Press

REDMOND, Wash. - May 10, 2011 (WPVI) -- Microsoft says it will buy the Internet phone company Skype for $8.5 billion in cash.

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Buying Skype is giving Microsoft Corp. a potentially valuable communications tool as it tries to make a bigger splash on the Internet and become a bigger force in the increasingly important smartphone market.

Skype boasts about 663 million users worldwide who make voice and video calls over the Internet.

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Tags:

microsoft, skype, business/finance