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Microsoft rumoured to be close to Skype deal - Updated
Tue, 10th May 2011
FYI, this story is more than a year old

Early this morning tech blogger Om Malik reported reliable sources had indicated Microsoft was seriously considering either partnering, investing or acquiring Skype.  Now comes news that it's a done deal - and for a record $8.5 billion.

According to the BoomTown sources, "the deal for the online telephony giant is actually done and will be announced early tomorrow morning."

This comes after news last week that Facebook and Google were circling the company.

Malik's blog says Microsoft's interest in Skype makes sense for several reasons, including that it would allow them to compete with Cisco and Google in enterprise collaboration.

Meanwhile, TechCrunch speculates the deal might be overvalued.

"So yes, there is logic to the deal. But $7 billion to $8 billion for a company still hasn’t figured out how to turn 663 million users into a profit machine is a stretch. But then, Microsoft was never any good at making money on the Internet either. It feels like Skype really wanted to sell to another company like Google or Facebook, but when the bankers started to shop it around, Ballmer bit and now he won’t let go. Could Google or Facebook have done the deal for less? I think so."

Update: Rumour confirmed. It's a done deal. See story here.