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The news that Microsoft is set to buy the online telephony company Skype for $8.5 billion and create a "rich media experience" for Skype users on Windows platforms (including Microsoft Office and Xbox) set stocks rising and people asking, "What does this mean for my phone?"
Some experts speculate that a second dotcom bubble is in the works. (The Wall Street Journal reports that it's the 20th largest tech deal in history.
At All Things D, Kara Swisher talked to key investor and "internet legend" Marc Andreessen, noting, "From the software giant anti-trusting his first company, Netscape Communications, into oblivion, to the software giant paying up to buy Skype today, it is tech’s version of karma." Andreessen told her:
While Andreessen declined to talk about others, sources said there were no serious ones beyond initial flirting, except for Microsoft.
Not Google and not Facebook.
When the massive all-cash deal was tendered, said Andreessen, the offer was too good to pass by for its private equity investor, Silver Lake Partners.
Read the full Marcus Andreeseen interview on All Things D now.
Image: © Jens Buettner/DPA/ZUMAPRESS.com
What do you think the deal means for your Skyping habits? And what does the huge dollar amount say about the dotcom industry?
