Update: It’s now being confirmed by AllThingsD; a deal valued at around $8.5 billion, with a press release expected at 5 AM Pacific time.[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif][size=2]Last year, Skype had revenue of $860 million on which it posted an operating profit of $264 million. However, it overall made a small loss, of $7 million, and had long-term debt of $686 million. A $7 billion purchase price would represent a huge premium over the $3-4 billion conjectured in the Facebook and Google deals.
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A Microsoft purchase would not be the first time Skype has been bought out; after being started in 2003, it was bought by eBay in 2005 for $3.1 billion. eBay then sold the majority of its stake in 2009 to a private investment group for $1.2 billion less than it paid.
