Movements around Skype and its possible meanings

The news happens: Skype seems to be in talks ahead of a possible acquisition or major capital input by several major companies . Began quoting Facebook and Google , now rumors also indicate that Microsoft joins the group of candidates.

First, caution. Skype is certainly an interesting company, which has been surrounded by rumors on several occasions. It is clear that the company has the largest market share of international calls , above all the traditional carriers, can be a powerful parsley for many sauces, able to make sense of almost anything, but under what conditions ?

There is talk of an acquisition cost estimated at 3000-4000000000 dollars for a company that is in the process of going public for a total of one billion, and revenues of 1200 million in the first nine months of 2010 a profit of 355 million. The accounts may be reasonable, is a multiplier of about three or four times income, but the question is: Is it necessary to reach the acquisition of Skype for such combinations make sense? Skype has agreements with numerous companies to integrate their platform into products of all kinds, and a reasonable investment in the capital of Skype, a joint venture or even a simple trade agreement with the same could benefit almost any company that has the appropriate scale . In fact, it was rumored and expected an announcement of a joint product between the company and Facebook, one of the most consistently involved in the rumors.

Everything indicates that in one way or another, one Facebook lacking comparable communication systems seem initially more concerned that Google already has similar tools , but are considered less robust and powerful than the product of Skype. However, Google could integrate Skype into Google Voice, giving it more features, and provide a social expression that is lacking, or just consider the operation to prevent the company from falling into the hands of Facebook , but that has not historically been the vision or how to do things in Mountain View. Facebook, Skype functionality is the potential of generating more time spent by users on your network, plus interact more diverse and more likely that would place it as a kind of centralization of communication and social interaction the network, leveraging its enormous size. For Microsoft, hypothetically, Skype could mean improving its product offering for collaboration, a more attractive potential for further versions of Windows Mobile, and improve their ability to leverage its partnership with operators.

" It means this kind of talk a threat to traditional carriers ? Undoubtedly, a part of the communications of users moving to social networks or network in general can pose a certain threat. But in reality, not much more to know that for a long time, conventional carriers are operating on an unsustainable basis, with prices completely outdated systems that no longer have the slightest sense to the user and losing and all possible logic the closer we get to a customer profile minimally skilled in using the Internet. In the end, companies know they have a good part of its profitability based on market anomalies, and are calculated for a long time many of the elements of a transition absolutely and imperatively necessary, which basically did not do much more than regular tempo. If finally the transaction or agreement with Skype takes place, operators will have one more concern to see how the use of Skype is growing even more because of its hypothetical partner and that could determine a temporary alteration of his plans, but nothing they can not or not know they have to bear as time passes and will opt for new developments such as LTE, enabling them to offer the bandwidth that such development requires.