Wednesday, August 10, 2005
The Carriers should buy Skype
When I first heard the rumor that Rupert Murdoch was trying to buy Skype for $3 Billion, I couldn't believe that Rupert would risk pissing off the carriers that carry his TV empire's content. The rumor, *days* old, is now Officially Dead.
However, Om Malik has now discovered that Skype has hired Morgan Stanley to find an aquisitor. (Good shoe leather, Om!) Om thinks that Skype still values itself north of $1 Billion.
Suggestion: The telcos, cellcos and cablecos should kick in and buy Skype, then hire somebody to run it badly enough that computer-to-computer voice gets a rep for poor quality, insecurity and unreliability. Deliberately create some high visibility faux pas. Give FUD a raison d'etre. Get Skype's customers screaming for revenge and regulation. Go bankrupt with an Enronic bang. It'd be a billion well spent.
However, Om Malik has now discovered that Skype has hired Morgan Stanley to find an aquisitor. (Good shoe leather, Om!) Om thinks that Skype still values itself north of $1 Billion.
Suggestion: The telcos, cellcos and cablecos should kick in and buy Skype, then hire somebody to run it badly enough that computer-to-computer voice gets a rep for poor quality, insecurity and unreliability. Deliberately create some high visibility faux pas. Give FUD a raison d'etre. Get Skype's customers screaming for revenge and regulation. Go bankrupt with an Enronic bang. It'd be a billion well spent.
Technorati Tags: FUD, Skype, Telcos, VOIP
Comments:
Why would somebody bye skype for several billion dollars and then just junk it. People want to make money. That is why they start or buy companies.
If I had a billion dollar I'd not buy skype but use it to develop a server based browser that does not send documents to the clients but processes the commands recieved from the clients itself as described at
http://www.newerawisp.blogspot.com/
If I had a billion dollar I'd not buy skype but use it to develop a server based browser that does not send documents to the clients but processes the commands recieved from the clients itself as described at
http://www.newerawisp.blogspot.com/
You're a company like News International. $1bn is petty cash. You buy the rights to acquire the userbase, trash the company's reputation (and the reputation of the whole p2p voice comms idea, which is starting to hit the baseline of many bricks-and-mortar telcos). One trashed company later, and bingo: your vested interests in the telco companies you have shares in are worth a whole lot more, and you have lots of valuable customer information (why do you think NewsInt bought MySpace? Now they have millions of 18-30s' vital statistics, interests, personal profiles... That's worth cold, hard cash. Bingo.
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