Posts Tagged ‘Steve Ballmer’

Windows Phone Head “Charlie Kindel” Quits Microsoft

Published by pratyushkp on August 9th, 2011 - in Social, Technology

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Charlie Kindel, one of the most public faces of Microsoft‘s Windows Phone group, has quit Microsoft after 21 years to start his own company.

Kindel was charged with getting developers on board for the new platform, and he and his team have done a pretty good job so far — Windows Phone has more than 25,000 apps after less than nine months on market. But it still trails behind the hundreds of thousands of apps available for the iPhone and Android. A lack of long-tail apps is really the only glaring gap in Microsoft’s mobile platform, which is otherwise a solid competitor.

Kindel reported the news on his personal blog this morning and posted his good-bye email. It’s mostly full of inside jokes, but one funny bit:

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Microsoft Acquires Skype for $8.5 Billion

Published by pratyushkp on May 10th, 2011 - in Social, Technology
Image representing Skype as depicted in CrunchBase

Image via CrunchBase

After rumors that first Facebook and then Microsoft were in talks to acquire Skype, the latter announced that it has acquired the VoIP giant for $8.5 billion in cash.

Skype will be integrated into Microsoft devices and systems such as Xbox and Kinect, Xbox Live, the Windows Phone, Lync and Outlook, Microsoft said in a statement. The company has pledged to continue supporting and developing Skype clients on non-Microsoft platforms as well.

The deal, which was spearheaded by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer with assistance from Charles Songhurst, the company’s head of corporate corporate strategy, was completed Monday evening, AllThingsD reported earlier.

The acquisition is an expensive one for Microsoft. Not only is it the largest price Microsoft has paid for a company in decades, Skype is not yet profitable. Despite revenues totaling $860 million last year and operating profits of $264 million, the company lost $6.9 million overall, according to documents filed with the SEC. And the company carries $686 million in debt.

Much of the company’s appeal rests in its largest user base of 663 million, 145 of which use Skype monthly (Update: Microsoft says Skype has 170 million regular users), and 8.8 million of which are paying customers.

There is one clear set of winners here: Skype’s investors. A group including Silver Lake, Index Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz and the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) Investment Board purchased the company from eBay for $2.75 billion in September 2009.

In August, Skype filed for an IPO but put plans on hold after Tony Bates joined the company as CEO in October. Bates will take on the title of president of the Microsoft Skype Division and report directly to Ballmer.

Source -: http://mashable.com

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  • Microsoft Plans to Buy Skype for $8.5 Billion (pamil-visions.net)
  • Why Microsoft Is Buying Skype for $8.5 Billion [Voices] (voices.allthingsd.com)
  • Microsoft Buys Skype, Facebook Wins… (bigthink.com)
  • Microsoft to acquire Skype (microsoft.com)
  • Microsoft to Acquire Skype for Over $8 Billion (slashgear.com)
  • Microsoft Can Take Skype to The Next Level: Mobile & Living Room (readwriteweb.com)
  • Microsoft Making Company’s Biggest Acquisition: Skype (searchenginewatch.com)
  • Microsoft buys Skype for $US8.5bn (theinformativereport.com)
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