RENEE MONTAGNE, Host: NPR's business news starts with Microsoft buying Skype.</s>RENEE MONTAGNE, Host: The Internet phone service Skype will soon be part of Microsoft. The two companies' boards announced the agreement today. Microsoft will buy Skype for eight and a half billion dollars. Skype is currently owned by a group of investors who bought it from eBay in 2009, for about $2 billion in cash. The deal announced today would be Microsoft's biggest acquisition ever. Analysts describe it as a strategic move against Google. Skype offers Microsoft a major Internet brand name and a widely used phone technology that Microsoft could try and incorporate with its other products.
The Internet phone service Skype will soon be part of Microsoft. The two companies' boards announced an agreement Tuesday in which Microsoft will buy Skype for $8.5 billion. This would be Microsoft's biggest acquisition ever.