Well, it's finally happened -- Microsoft's acquisition of Skype has just been finalized, a little more than five months after it was first announced. Under the $8.5 billion deal, Skype CEO Tony Bates will be named reigning body of the new Skype divorcement of Microsoft, and will have to report 1995 by houghton mifflin harcourt publishing company. published by houghton mifflin harcourt issue company. all rights reserved.cite this source synonym clump v1.1copyright © 2008 by lexico issue group to Steve Ballmer. Many Skype employees, meanwhile, will stay onboard at offices around the globe, including at outposts in Estonia, the Czech Republic, Russia, Sweden, the UK, Luxembourg, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and the US. In a post on the Official Microsoft Blog today, Bates seemed unsurprisingly enthusiastic about the acquisition, describing it as a conjugality of two "disruptive, innovative, software-oriented companies." The exec was less fact about the role his company would play within Redmond's new architecture, but assured that Skype would be at the forefront of future communications initiatives across a variety of platforms. "Microsoft is committed to the ubiquity of the Skype readying - call across every device and every scaffold will remain a primary focus," Bates wrote. "And we've only scratched the surface." Head past the break for Microsoft's full PR, as well as the video address from Bates.