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Facebook considering $3-4Bn buyout of Skype
- d0ne 15y ago"It's the end of the world as we know it." However, I don't feel fine. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0GFRcFm-aY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0GFRcFm-aY
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- MatthewB 15y agoAt first I wasn't sure how Skype played into FB's strategy but I guess it makes sense. Skype would come with a plethora of talent, which facebook is known to spend money for. Also, the Skype technology would allow FB to fill out the video communication side of things that they have yet to tap.
- jackvalentine 15y agoDo you have any names in mind for this "talent" that Skype currently posess? I'm not familiar with the company's staff at all but from how the OSX client 5.0 release was such a failure & how bad the android client is I'm inclined to think there isn't much left at all.
- jseifer 15y agoPerhaps they will improve the new Skype client.
- calebmpeterson 15y agoIn the event of this actually happening, what are some alternatives to Skype's video chat?
- jolan 15y agoflash, SIP video, facetime, AIM/MSN
- calebmpeterson 15y agocan you elaborate on flash a little? thank you!
- jolan 15y agoElaborate how? It's been proven with sites like chatroulette. There are open source servers like red5: http://code.google.com/p/red5/ http://code.google.com/p/red5/
- zheng 15y agoChatroulette is not really an alternative to skype, but the link was interesting. I think the OP was looking for a similar video chat client. I've personally never used skype, but for 1-1 video chatting, gchat works pretty well. I use it nightly.
- jallmann 15y agotinychat.com
- elliottcarlson 15y agoA personal solution is pretty easy using something like OpenFire[1], Red5[2] and the OpenFire Red5[3] and SIP[4] plugins. Using this setup you can have an instant messenger, video chat and phone calls. [1] http://www.igniterealtime.org/projects/openfire/ http://www.igniterealtime.org/projects/openfire/ [2] http://www.red5.org/ http://www.red5.org/ [3] http://code.google.com/p/redfire/ http://code.google.com/p/redfire/ [4] http://www.igniterealtime.org/projects/openfire/plugins.jsp http://www.igniterealtime.org/projects/openfire/plugins.jsp (scroll down to SIP Phone Plugin)
- VMG 15y agomumble has video planned (http://mumble.sf.net http://mumble.sf.net) It is not p2p but that could be implemented separately AFAIK
- jerf 15y agoPerson-to-person video chat is a commodity. If there's a problem it is that there are too many solutions.
- nametoremember 15y agoYep. It seems Skype just won on brand name.
- pornel 15y agoThey won on NAT traversal, ease of installation and lack of obnoxious ads. I've learned about Skype from my aunt who managed to install it and get it working without phoning me.
- cop359 15y agoI've personally been looking into this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jitsi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jitsi has anyone tried it? What do you think? I haven't gotten it to work yet,,,
- cookiecaper 15y agoI tried to use it for SIP recently and it did not work well for me at all. I am using Arch Linux and a tiling window manager. It doesn't seem to cooperate with my fairly normal sound setup and the interface is messed up on awesomewm at least. Not worth the effort. The most reliable VoIP program I've found is twinkle, but it hasn't been updated in years afaik. I used Ekiga exclusively for SIP and video chat for several months but it was plagued with really annoying bugs, including frequent hard locks and unreliable presence/call functionalities. I haven't been impressed with any Linux SIP/video chat applications to be honest. Empathy and Pidgin use gstreamer which usually doesn't work very well either. The most reliable video chat experience I've had is Skype, despite their buggy Linux client.
- gst 15y agoIMO XMPP/Jingle is the best alternative: - Open standard - Supports federation between different servers - Open source cllients available - Also integrated into GMail (that's the technology that is used when you do a voice or video call) - Will be fully integrated into Android starting with version 2.3.4
- bergie 15y agoAgreed. We were doing mobile video calls with XMPP with Nokia N800s already back in 2007 http://www.flickr.com/photos/bergie/399708279/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/bergie/399708279/
- decadentcactus 15y agoI _really_ hope that there's no forced integration, logging in with Facebook or anything.
- smallhands 15y agoare you kidding, that will be the first thing they will do
- beedogs 15y agobeedogs considering no longer using Skype.
- calebmpeterson 15y agoif FB buys skype I'm out
- zackattack 15y agofear of centralized access to personal information? is there a _secure_ easy voip solution ?
- calebmpeterson 15y agonot so much fear...more of a well placed reluctance to trust a company which has no regard for privacy
- jfruh 15y agoHa ha, remember when Skype pulled this scam with eBay? Good times!
- phlux 15y agoYeah - but this is actually the most brilliant move that Facebook can make - and makes such greater sense than eBay. You have a service of 500 MILLION accounts that actually talk to eachother. The play here is so fucking obvious: the facebook Social technology portal page: It is a smartphone on fucking steroids. You get voice, an extensive contacts list, all the apps on the platform, updates of actions etc... There is no way why this is a stupid play on facebooks part. If this goes through - they will have a phenomenally significant advantage to google. Millions of users that now have every tool they need to communicate. The additional services that facebook shall deploy only further lock in that user base: payments, planning, groups, organizations... eventually it will be about fostering and incubating companies and startups via facebook frameworked group app support. The next step is the facebook phone... all it has is a data connection - skype all your contacts in-system, and the ancillary apps that they can end up providing through the platform in 5 years will take on apple.
- smallhands 15y agoI know this is off the topic.any body knows a skype like program that runs on lan only thanks
- hexley 15y agoiChat/w Bonjour
- ryanhunt 15y agoit's not overly surprising considering the recent Facebook<-> Skype integration and Skype's expansion to the USA (new office in Brisbane, CA). I'd say it's more like likely a 'strategic partnership' than a buy-out. Having said that though, they're both private companies, so it may not as straight forward as a normal 'merger'
- omfut 15y agoIts makes more sense for Facebook to buy Skype instead of Google. Here are some of my points.( snippets from my article). •Enhance their messaging platform with support for Voice and Video powered by Skype. Off course Facebook can develop its own Voice and Video infrastructure. Too me it’s a stretch. Instead by buying Skype they get instant access to VoIP/SMS/Video features •Support Voice/Video will boost the messaging platform, which doesn’t seem to have gained much traction •With Skype Acquisition they also get QIK Live streaming capabilities. That’s an added plus •Instant Access to more than 500 million users. The chances of Skype users having Facebook account are high. There might be an overlap •Facebook can really become a global operator providing Voice/SMS/Video/IM communication to all its users. Off course PSTN access will still be short coming, a partnership with one of the operator can offset this shortcoming •A Facebook phone becomes a reality. Most of the operators are moving towards 4G/LTE, it’s a matter of time that all Voice calls will be carried via IP network. With a partnership with one of the access network, Facebook’s ambitious phone becomes a reality. So constant monthly revenue for basic phone service becomes a reality. Voila! •Patronize Innovation by opening up the Skype platform for developers (Telco 2.0 Platform). Something similar to Twilio, Voxeo etc •Who said Facebook is only for Consumer market, with Skype acquisition they can venture into Enterprise market and become a threat to some of the incumbent Video/VoIP provider like Avaya, Cisco etc •According to CDC Straw Poll 75% of the companies will adopt, Video Conferencing by 2012. Skype already supports consumer video conferencing which can be extended /enhanced for enterprise •Voice conferencing is another big Enterprise feature. So armed with these powerful features, facebook can look beyond consumer market •It makes sense to have different revenue stream instead of relying only on advertisements •Everybody wants a piece of Facebooks social graph including operators. T-Mobiles recently launched Bobsled , a one touch calling within facebook. In fact Facebook can do a better job than Third Party service providers.
- murz 15y agoI'm curious what the sources would have to gain by leaking this information? In the Reuters article it says they had "direct knowledge of the discussions", why would they risk their jobs to leak something like this? I don't get it.
- inoop 15y agoThe Skype app on Android is really only barely functional, and what is more, the total lack of support or interest in fixing bugs from their side is almost comical. A couple of months ago I fixed a problem where the sound was coming out of the back speaker rather than the earpiece, a problem that seems to affect many people. I located the problem and fixed it using baksmali/smali. I then opened a ticket on their public Jira server describing the problem, solution, and even attached the patched .apk. Months later they still haven't merged it into Skype proper, even though it's literally a two-line fix. In the meantime loads of people cannot use Skype on their phones. The fact that a company that is supposed to be worth 1 trillion USD doesn't have the manpower or interest to fix such a simple bug that totally breaks their product for a lot of people should tell us something. From the outside it looks like all the skilled people have left a long time ago, and I wonder if they'll be able to maintain their market position like this.
- nametoremember 15y agoFacebook updated their Android app which meant if you checked messages it would crash. It was fixed but the app still stalls for me.
- benjoffe 15y ago> The fact that a company that is supposed to be worth 1 trillion USD... "Billion"
- inoop 15y agoYeah, non-native speaker here, the system works a bit different in my language, hence the confusion. I spotted the mistake but couldn't edit my post. Luckily you can always count on the internet to point out your typos.
- cellis 15y agoUnless you're talking about Facebook. Then he'd be correct. ;)
- navs 15y agoTheir iOS app is barely functional on my aging iPhone 3G. Skype took much too long to even update their Linux version. Sure its functional but I'd like to see it receive some attention like its Windows and Mac brothers. If Facebook does indeed purchase Skype I'm hoping it means the ability to use Skype within the browser so I can stop whining about its apps.
- gcb 15y agoskype is only a good option if they want users. because the only appeal of skype is the userbase. really. if facebook has the penetration everyone believes they have, skype would be irrelevant. buy any other media streaming company with an actual decent codec and the rest is commodity.
- netcan 15y agoAssuming you are right about the tech (I have no idea), it's not necessarily a simple 'user acquisition.' I have a facebook account that I rarely use and a skype account that's always on. If logged in to skype meant logged in to facebook I would become a very active facebook user. I can't gauge the value of that to facebook because it's still not entirely clear how they make money (at least not the kind of money investors are aiming for), but it's possible skype is very valuable. Who I call, how long, what hours, these all tell facebook a lot about me. Possibly more than my facebook account does. Different people use facebook for different things. Photo sharing, address book, networking, chat, email (sort of), social news, games. Skype can add another big bullet point to that list. Again, it's hard to say good or bad for facebook's bottom line at this point. If you are going by their current revenue model, you would have to relate everything to demographically segmented pageviews but these kind of numbers assume bigger value than that.
- gcb 15y agothat was mostly my point too. I was mostly questioning how much users (or actual real users that actually uses the site) there are in reality. not in the make believe news lives in.
- buddydvd 15y agoPerhaps what Facebook want is all of Skype's customers' credit card numbers. Linking them with Facebook accounts may help boost all of their future 30-percent-comission endeavors.
- staunch 15y agoAndreessen was an investor in Qik. Andreessen did a huge deal to buy Skype. Andreessen is an investor in Facebook AND on the board. He sold Qik to Skype for $100M and now he's going to sell Skype to Facebook for billions? "No conflict, no interest" indeed.
- mahmud 15y agoLike a boss! Dave Chappelle had a sketch where he was defending Michael Jackson despite mounting evidence implicating him in child molestation. Chappelle's defense was "but .. he made Thriller!" But .. he wrote Mosaic!
- jacques_chester 15y agoIt's up to other investors in Facebook to raise this issue. Andressen would at least be expected to recuse himself from any discussions or votes on the matter and I expect he would be sued anyway if the purchase went sour. (IANAL, TINLA etc)
- horatiumocian 15y agoI am not sure that Marc Andreessen has so much influence at Facebook. He has one of the 3 board seats that are controlled by Zuckerberg. And Skype would be Facebook's biggest acquisition so far, so it wouldn't be easy for him to convince Zuckerberg to do it.
- moondowner 15y agoI don't fancy Facebook buying Skype.
- sahaj 15y agoDoes Facebook have $3-4B in cash? I didn't think they had that much money. And even if they do, they wouldn't have much left after the deal to move other big plans forward. I guess if they go public first, then it could happen.
- horatiumocian 15y agoFacebook may make $2B in profits this year. So I think they could come up with this cash. Also, they can give some of this amount in stock.
- nametoremember 15y agoIn profit? Source? (Not saying you're wrong - I just didn't know and would like to read about it)
- horatiumocian 15y agoHere it is: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-03/facebook-is-said-to-expect-2-billion-in-2011-adjusted-earnings.html http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-03/facebook-is-said-to... To be more precise, it's $2B in EBITDA, not net profit.
- nandemo 15y agoBesides paying partly in stock, they can also borrow cash.
- jacques_chester 15y agoUpcoming mashable/techcrunch/other-tech-gossip-site headlines to be linked at HN: * Why Facebook will buy Skype * This is not a bubble * Facebook buying Skype is the dumbest thing ever * Skype's two hundred competitors that Google will buy * That settles it, we're in a bubble * Why Google/Microsoft/Yahoo/Apple should buy Skype * How I flipped my VOIP company for $4 billion in funny-money
- diegob 15y agoYou're doing their work for them!
- jacques_chester 15y agoThey've merely rightsized their organisation to wikify their newsroom with crowd-sourced insight. It's totally thinking outside the paradigm, a true hack on pivoting.
- kin 15y agothe first thing i thought of was video chat integration into facebook chat exactly the same way google video chat is integrated into gchat. from there, they could monetize on paid group chats, calls to numbers since fb's new messaging is tied to mobile, etc.
- horatiumocian 15y agoI don't see many reasons for Facebook to buy Skype: 1) Technology: Skype's core technology is their P2P technology. They have their own clients for PCs and mobiles. Facebook resides in the cloud, and it works from the browser. This is a huge difference on PCs/Macs, but less so on mobiles, where Facebook also has apps. 2) Price: At $3-4Bn Skype would be by far Facebook's biggest acquisition, as all the others have been under $100M. As they don't have the amount of cash that public companies like AAPL, GOOG or MSFT have (at least not yet), it's quite a big effort for them. There need be a lot of synergies to justify paying this kind of money. 3) Culture: Skype is older than Facebook, and has European roots. Facebook has so far made small acquisitions (more like acqhiring), they don't have any experience with integrating a big company like Skype. 4) Business model: Skype is going for the enterprise market (see the appointment of the new CEO last autumn), and selling subscriptions. Facebook is going for consumers, and selling ads. Overall, I think a better option for Skype would be an IPO, a telco acquisition, or maybe a Google acquisition.
- varjag 15y agoWhat? Skype is worth so little?