Microsoft's Skype purchase approved by European Commission

The last step in the Microsoft-Skype transaction has been overcome: the European Commission approved the purchase of a VoIP company, despite the fact that some experts had doubts about this. In addition, various companies, both large and small, opposed the deal earlier, interfering with the already not-so-smooth transfer process of Microsoft Skype assets. But now it’s too late to drink Borjomi, all the difficulties are behind, and Skype can be considered completely and completely owned by the software giant.

The experts of the European Commission studied all aspects of the transaction, and concluded that there would be no particular competitive problems after the transfer of Skype to Microsoft. There are other major players in this market that can compete even with such a powerful tandem. The same Google with its VoIP service is constantly attracting new users, some of whom are switching from Skype to Google Voice and derivatives of this service.

It is interesting that just a few days ago a complaint was filed with the European Commission from a small company from Italy, who considered that Microsoft’s planned integration of Skype into its office suite poses a threat to the work of IP services of other companies. Most likely, the complaint was either ignored altogether, or a general decision was simply made regarding the security of the Skype-Microsoft transaction for other companies promoting their own IP-telephony services.

It is worth recalling that the total value of the transaction between the software giant and Skype is 8.5 billion dollars. The US Federal Trade Commission approved the deal back in June this year. According to partners, all planned points of the transaction will be completed soon, and Skype, so to speak, will go under the jurisdiction of Microsoft.

FT