Is Cisco planning to buy Skype?

31 Aug 2010

Could it be a match made in cyber heaven? Networking giant Cisco is tipped to be planning to buy voice over IP doyen Skype in a move that matches Cisco’s latest moves in buying Flip Video and planning its own productivity tablet.

It emerged earlier today that internet infrastructure giant Cisco has made a bid for Skype. The sentiment is that such an acquisition would make perfect sense because it means existing Cisco products like WebEx and unified communications services would integrate seamlessly with Skype’s technology.

Cisco in the last two years has been making strategic acquisitions, such as that of digital handheld camera maker Flip and surprising the marketplaces with its own productivity tablet device with video conferencing, the Cius.

eBay acquired Skype in 2006 for US$2.6bn. However, it was not a marriage made in heaven, neither company could make its technology integrate with the others, and eBay sold off its majority stake in Skype in 2009.

Earlier this month, Skype filed for an IPO in which it hopes to raise US$100m.

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com