Microsoft Corp. agreed to buy Internet phone company Skype Technologies SA for $8.5 billion in cash- the most aggressive move yet by Microsoft to play in the increasingly converged worlds of communication, information and entertainment.

Buying Skype would give Microsoft a potentially valuable communications tool as it tries to make a bigger impact on the Internet and become a bigger force in the  smartphone market.

The sellers include eBay and private equity firms Silver Lake and Andreessen Horowitz.

Skype has about 663 million users worldwide. According to documents, Skype users made 207 billion minutes of voice and video calls last year.

Most people use Skype’s free calling services, which has made it difficult for the service to make money since entrepreneurs Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis started the company in 2003

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