On Wed, May 11, 2011 at 3:49 PM, Ian Thomas <[email protected]> wrote: > It isn't all free - if you want dialout/dialin that costs. > > Meski, I guess that’s not the point – rather, has Skype’s value increased > greatly in recent years?
A lot of investors think it is too much. eg When Skype filed for an initial public offering late last year, a $5 billion price tag looked optimistic. Microsoft's price is virtually 10 times revenue. Even Google only manages a bit over five times. Put another way, Ballmer is paying more than 400 times last year's operating income. Skype, now with 170 million monthly users, is a fast-growing business -- monthly users increased 38 percent last year to 145 million, with paying users up 19 percent. But to turn that operating income into a 10 percent annual return on investment, even pre-tax, it has to grow 40-fold. > > Remember Alan Bond and the price he bought and sold Channel 9 TV etc for. I have no recollection of that. > > Actually, Skype’s annual revenue and revenue growth is good right now, and > its EBITDA grew by 40% last year. But like David C, I do wonder about the > 8.5bn price. > or 7.9 ( AUD heh heh) > Ballmer reckons it’s a great deal. > > ________________________________ > > Ian Thomas > > Victoria Park, Western Australia > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] > On Behalf Of mike smith > Sent: Wednesday, May 11, 2011 10:38 AM > To: ozDotNet > Subject: Re: [OT] Microsoft buys Skype for $US8.5 billion > > > > On Wed, May 11, 2011 at 12:02 PM, David Connors <[email protected]> wrote: > >> On Wed, May 11, 2011 at 11:59 AM, Ian Thomas <[email protected]> >> wrote: > >>> > >>> Saw this today – interesting, considering that the speculation was that > >>> Facebook and Google were the contenders. > >> > >> Andreessen must be smiling like a Cheshire cat seeing as he and his >> buddies > >> bought it fro 2.something bln last year. > >> They'll have to sell a lot of free Internet phone calls to get the money > >> back. > > > > > >> -- > >> David Connors | [email protected] | www.codify.com > >> Software Engineer > >> Codify Pty Ltd > >> Phone: +61 (7) 3210 6268 | Facsimile: +61 (7) 3210 6269 | Mobile: +61 417 > >> 189 363 > >> V-Card: https://www.codify.com/cards/davidconnors > >> Address Info: https://www.codify.com/contact > >> > >> > > > > > > > > -- > > Meski > > > > "Going to Starbucks for coffee is like going to prison for sex. Sure, > > you'll get it, but it's going to be rough" - Adam Hills -- Meski "Going to Starbucks for coffee is like going to prison for sex. Sure, you'll get it, but it's going to be rough" - Adam Hills
