Facebook Vs Google - Who will own Skype and why it matters to you

One of the hot questions these days is who all are looking to buy Skype after it decided not to launch its IPO anytime soon. In a sudden strategic turn Skype has delayed the launch of its IPO to second quarter which has led the news reporting agencies worldwide to speculate on Skype's future. Both Google and Facebook have been reported to having discussed a possible joint venture with Skype - the uncrowned champion for video calls using voip. Although, none of the corporations have commented to wired news' questions about these discussions it is evident something is going on. 

Who will benefit more?

It is more plausible to believe that Skype-Facebook integration will benefit more than Google-Skype integration as Google already has its own Video calling as well as voip calling solution tightly integrated with Gmail. Thus, Google-Skype integration will be a case where a Giant fish tries to contain the competition. 

On the other hand, Facebook-Skype combo seems promising as both have a large number of users who believe in social media. The issue here is that none of these two companies have a proven revenue model although, facebook's ads have grown by leaps and bounds. Moreover, Facebook currently lacks a good chatting solution as well as video calling solution. Thus Skype will fill the gap nicely in Facebook.


Update: Finally Microsoft bought Skype for a whopping $8.5 Billions. Skype reported its last years revenue to be more than $860 million with an operating profit of more than $250 million. However, this is not a large amount for Microsoft but the integration of Skype with Microsoft's product can give other video calling software providers a run for money.