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Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Skype's owners made $5bln, three times money-source, (NASDAQ: MSFT)

Skype's owners, led by private equity firm Silver Lake, made more than three times their investment - a total capital gain of more than $5 billion - on sale of the company to Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O), a source familiar with the deal said on Tuesday. That was made in around 18 months, a short turnaround for private equity which typically invests with a time horizon of three to five years. The investor group bought a majority stake in Skype from eBay in 2009 for $1.9 billion in cash and a $125 million note. EBay retained about a third of the company. Microsoft plans to purchase Skype for $8.5 billion. It is one of the largest capital gains made on a private equity investment, the source said.

Microsoft Corporation is engaged in developing, manufacturing, licensing and supporting a range of software products and services for different types of computing devices. Shares of MSFT fell by 1.36% or $-0.35/share to $25.48. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $22.73 and as high as $29.73. On average, 61470900 shares of MSFT exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 71012584.



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