Microsoft‘s $8.5 billion acquisition of Skype prompted a lot of speculation and nearly as many “what could have beens” yesterday. One interesting take on the deal came from Wired senior writer Steven Levy, who reported that Google nearly bought Skype before company executives soured on the idea.
Among the reasons that Google decided not to purchase Skype: senior company executives said the deal would have involved an extensive governmental review process, during which the Mountain View, Calif.-based company would’ve been at a stand still. Google executives also did not want to move to Europe to oversee Skype, said Levy.
