Europe's second highest court upheld on Wednesday a decision by EU regulators clearing Microsoft's $8.5 billion takeover of Skype two years ago, rejecting a challenge by the world's top network equipment maker Cisco Systems Inc. "Microsoft's acquisition of Skype is compatible with the internal market. The merger does not restrict competition either on the consumer video communications market or on the business video communications market," the Luxembourg-based General Court said.Cisco, which filed its challenge together with Italian fixed-line and Internet telephone provider and Skype rival Messagenet SpA, can appeal to the EU Court of Justice.
Cisco Systems, Inc. (Cisco) designs, manufactures, and sells Internet protocol (IP)-based networking and other products related to the communications and information technology (IT) industry and provide services associated with these products and their use. Shares of CSCO fell by 0.05% or $-0.01/share to $21.21. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $19.31 and as high as $26.49. On average, 43495200 shares of CSCO exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 45957588.
Source
