Both Facebook and Google are in talks to buy video-conferencing service Skype, according to reports.
The news comes after the Luxembourg-based Skype postponed its initial public offering, which would have raised about $1 billion.for the company, Reuters reported.
Facebook founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has been involved in talks with Skype, including possibly forming a joint venture, the report continued. Another source confirmed that Google has also been in talks with the videoconferencing service. The asking price for Skype is rumored to be between $3 and $4 billion.
Facebook probably has the most to gain from the buy because Google already has a video chat service. However, Business Insider seems to think that maybe Google should buy it to keep it out of Facebook's hands.
Facebook's luck has been very good lately, and if I were to hazard a guess, I'd say Skype's owners would choose Facebook over Google simply for the cachet alone. But $4 billion for Skype seems awfully steep -- especially for a company that has no proven revenue model.
