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But the best thing about this is getting the asset back into the hands of the entrepreneurs who created it and built it. We all saw what happened at Apple when Jobs took back the reins of the company and I suspect Niklas and Janus would not be thinking about this if they didn’t have a strong strategic plan for Skype.
I’ve said this many times on this blog and I’ll say it again. Big companies mostly mess up entrepreneurial companies when they buy them and it really is best that companies like Skype stay independant and run by their founders if that is possible. And it looks like that might be possible with Skype. That makes me happy.
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Two years ago, Fred wrote an upbeat post about the Skype founders buying back Skype from eBay. I’m wondering what his thoughts are after today’s news.
I’m impressed by the price tag but unimpressed at all to see Skype go to Microsoft. Skype is one of the world’s biggest consumer applications and Microsoft doesn’t really have a proven track record in the consumer space.
I had high hopes for Skype to find its mojo back as an independent company. Reading the news today and knowing that Skype for Mac never really improved in the two years after spinning out, I’m disappointed.
I’ve used Skype since its release in 2003 and have loved the service ever since. If the sale to Microsoft means we’ll see the Skype technology used in Microsoft’s enterprise products (Windows, Live, Outlook) and in Facebook, $8.5 in cash is good news for investors and founders but possibly bad news for Skype users. Skype as a communication’s backbone in Xbox Live and Windows Mobile? Likely. Exciting? Not so much.
