The big news yesterday was Microsoft's acquisition of Skype for a striking sticker price of $8.5 billion.
Most people stopped at the price, expressing surprise that Microsoft could spend so much money for a company that had recently been spun out at a $2.5 billion valuation.
But here are two numbers that explain the logic behind the deal: $14.7 and 50.
What do they mean?
$14.70 is what Microsoft paid per user for Skype, according to Atomic Inc. When eBay bought Skype back in 2005, they paid $45.60 per user. So Skype's price went up, but its price per user went down. Another way to look at it is that when Microsoft invested in Facebook at a $15 billion valuation, a move then viewed as an act of desperation and now recognized as a masterstroke, the social network had less than 100 million users, which works out to more than $150 per user. Comparatively, Skype is a bargain.
To read the full, original article click on this link: Skype: The Numbers Behind Microsoft's Acquisition
Author: Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry
