How Google Stopped Itself From Buying Skype
Very sly.
The new owners of Skype are none other than the largest software maker in the world – Microsoft. It seems fitting that Microsoft adds another premier service to its stable, but the interesting thing is that Google contemplated buying Skype during an earlier period.
In fact, much of Google was on board to buy Skype until a clever plan from inside the company sabotaged the entire thing.
Wesley Chan, now a partner on the Google Ventures team, at the time in 2009 was in charge of Google Voice. Chan went to Europe to check out Skype, and came away with the impression that it was a bad match for Google's business.
“The worst thing about peer-to-peer is that it doesn’t work well with Google,” Chan told book author Steven Levy for In the Plex in February 2010. “Peer-to-peer just eats up your bandwidth, right, it’s like the old technology.”
Chan figured that an acquisition for Skype could take up to two years to complete after regulations approvals. “It would’ve been disastrous,” he said.
Chan had to find a way to sabotage the deal for the good of the company, and he and Salar Kamangar, one of Google’s first 10 employees and today's CEO of YouTube, went to Google co-founder Sergey Brin with a plan.
In a Google meeting about the acquisition plan, Chan would play the part of an acquisition supporter. Brin, on the other hand, would shoot down Chan's ideas and ask questions that would lead to the conclusion that buying Skype would be the wrong move for Google.
During Chan's presentation in favor of purchasing Skype, Brin took the floor “and started getting really negative,” Chan said. “He asked a series of questions that he knew would get unsatisfactory answers. Is this purchase data-driven? Who is going to spend all those months commuting to Europe? (No one stepped up.) How long is the government review expected to take?
“[Sergey] looks at me and says, ‘Why would I want this risk? We have a team capable of building the carrier, we have the users, we have hundreds of millions of Gmail users, why do we need to have Skype?’ And at that point, Sergey gets up and says, ‘This is the dumbest shit I’ve ever seen.’ And Eric gets up and walks out of the room, and I’m like, okay, the deal’s off.”
That, according to one account, is why Microsoft, and not Google, owns Skype.
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I really do think the profanity should have been censored on this article. I'm a bit shocked actually that it wasn't, while not offended it certainly was not expected.
Then again nothing will beat Jane's "RIM: Jobs is Wrong; Seven Inches is Big Enough"
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/Jim-Ba [...] -8386.html
Let us never forget that article it will forever be the one that defines Jane's time here.
I did not want Skype to go to MS, but Google would have been a worse choice in my view, agreeing with the saboteur in this case.
Facebook missed a great chance. The experience of Skype and the mixture of Facebook and Skype users would be good for the company and the competitive value of the company would increase, resulting maybe in better service for the users.
Then again nothing will beat Jane's "RIM: Jobs is Wrong; Seven Inches is Big Enough"http://www.tomsguide.com/us/Jim-Ba [...] -8386.htmlLet us never forget that article it will forever be the one that defines Jane's time here.
Thank you for remembering it. I re-read the first page of the comments just for fun. Tom's' readers and writers have a good sense of humour.
I really do think the profanity should have been censored on this article. I'm a bit shocked actually that it wasn't, while not offended it certainly was not expected.
Okay knight in shining armor.
too bad, they could have fused gtalk and skype... gtalk's voice sux
owell, lets hope microsoft dont change eny thing on skype its 100% good as it is, altho the adds culd go but its not importent.
Then again nothing will beat Jane's "RIM: Jobs is Wrong; Seven Inches is Big Enough"http://www.tomsguide.com/us/Jim-Ba [...] -8386.htmlLet us never forget that article it will forever be the one that defines Jane's time here.
Just when everyone had forgotten it, ah, memories of happier times...
@nuclear shadow are you 6 or whats wrong with you
I really do think the profanity should have been censored on this article. I'm a bit shocked actually that it wasn't, while not offended it certainly was not expected.
They are just telling it like they have received it but you would be surprised at the amount of profanity used by executives. It is hilarious, especially VP's of Sales.
What will google gain by putting up a drama as such?
I really do think the profanity should have been censored on this article. I'm a bit shocked actually that it wasn't, while not offended it certainly was not expected.
Yes, let's hide the truth!! Let's stop broadcasting war too.
Everyone cover your eyes and ears. You might have to sense the real world!!
It's comforting to see that a company like Google needs to have employees that undermine each others ideas in order to get sh*t done. That's the business world for you!
Seems like people are trying to make Microsoft very Uncool by putting this kind of stuff up. Google didn't just buy Skype because Microsoft did it and that is it. Don't come to me with such a story full of movie scenes. kkkkkkk That is the lamest thing i've ever heard..
Sergey gets up and says, ‘This is the dumbest shit I’ve ever seen.’
This made my day, and that's saying a lot, considering I spent the past several hours thinking about suicide.
Um, what? Was he asking if the Skype software would fit into their data-driven advertising platform, or did he really use a corporate-speak BS term to demotivate himself from the purchase?
"Is this purchase thinking outside the box? Have we brainstormed this? Are we looking past the horizon with this purchase?"
@nuclear shadow are you 6 or whats wrong with you
Well at least we know you're a big man who can 'handle' profanity...
Well at least we know you're a big man who can 'handle' profanity...
i can handle the real world where people say those bad words, in hurtful ways, toward other people.
i can handle the real world where people say those bad words, in hurtful ways, toward other people.
Good for you. You're just intolerant and insulting to people who would prefer profanity be kept out of polite commentary. Work on it.
I also wonder why would one buy Skype and even pay so much for it, if he anyway has hundreds of million users.
I've never used Skype. What is so good about Skype compare to others?
I really do think the profanity should have been censored on this article. I'm a bit shocked actually that it wasn't, while not offended it certainly was not expected.
I wish I had more thumbs to turn down on you.
It's interesting that Microsoft didn't think of this too.. Buying Skype is a really bad business move for a company like Microsoft, and Google saw it. Maybe it would've been ok for Facebook to buy it seeing it doesn't have voip and it's chat feature works only with facebook contacts, but seriously, Microsoft, with it's huge dev/departments, MSN Messenger and live and all the other products? Really?? They couldn't just work a little on messenger and compete with skype? I was really impressed with the purchase of Skype, actually, it's more like disappointed, yes, not impressed, disappointed..
Am I the only one who thinks the whole thing about Chan "coming up with a plan" to "sabotage" the Skype deal sounds like a load of BS? If he was the guy "checking out Skype" and he thought it was a bad idea for Google to buy it, why wouldn't he just tell Sergey, "Hey, I think it's a bad idea to buy Skype based on my findings" instead of coming up with a half-baked plan where he pretends to think it's a good idea and Brin shoots him down?
Sounds to me like he actually thought buying Skype was a GOOD idea, and it just got shot down in the meeting. Now he's trying to turn it around and cover up the fact that he had a bad idea.
All this money and yet Skype still doesn't have push to talk.
Well at least we know you're a big man who can 'handle' profanity...
Well at least we know you're a complaining lil' bitch who can't 'handle' profanity
Am I the only one who thinks the whole thing about Chan "coming up with a plan" to "sabotage" the Skype deal sounds like a load of BS? If he was the guy "checking out Skype" and he thought it was a bad idea for Google to buy it, why wouldn't he just tell Sergey, "Hey, I think it's a bad idea to buy Skype based on my findings" instead of coming up with a half-baked plan where he pretends to think it's a good idea and Brin shoots him down?Sounds to me like he actually thought buying Skype was a GOOD idea, and it just got shot down in the meeting. Now he's trying to turn it around and cover up the fact that he had a bad idea.
I agree , unless the google billionaires are just super bored...
I really do think the profanity should have been censored on this article. I'm a bit shocked actually that it wasn't, while not offended it certainly was not expected.
illo gets up and says, ‘This is the dumbest shit I’ve ever seen.’
The good buyer bad buyer routine.
Lots of hate over a comment about vulgarity. People need to stop throwing hissy fits every time this issue is brought up, and look at it with a more calm and respectful eye.
Profanity and vulgarity are neither professional nor respectful. Lewd references and euphemisms are neither professional nor respectful. Taunting others because they are asking for a little politeness and consideration is neither professional nor respectful.
In the case of this article, the author was quoting someone else relevant to the story, not speaking with his own voice, so censorship isn't necessary from a professional standpoint. But the censorship of the word in question would not have changed the meaning, intention, or context of the quote, so censorship would also have been acceptable.
It comes down to the policies of Best of Media and Tom's Guide, and whether they want to offer their news as raw and uncensored as they can, or to make their news accessible to the largest audience possible.
That being said, if the Tom's writers themselves use vulgarities or euphemisms, it seriously hurts the credibility and professional image of the company, and thus restricts the size of their audience.
Do you think Bill Gates had to hatch a plan to not do a deal he didn't like? Does Sergey Brin not have enough clout in the company he founded to nix deals he thinks are not good?