In a new interview, the Microsoft founder says he was a fan of the deal and pushed hard to make it come true. He did this from his position on the Microsoft board since he’s no longer an active executive within the company. Gates said that his support had less to do with Skype’s current status (it’s not profitable) and more about how it can be integrated with the rest of Microsoft’s projects. So the future of Skype may be one without the Skype name and more about Skypey capabilities on a lot of Microsoft stuff like Outlook and Xbox. Of course, one could also posit that this is a case of Gates kind of having Steve Ballmer’s back as the Microsoft CEO has caught a lot of flak for pulling the trigger on this deal and writing a check for 8.5 billion dollars.
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