| Kippreport.com

Microsoft’s $8.5 billion acquisition of Skype –the largest Microsoft has ever made – has put Tony Bates, Skype CEO, into the limelight this week. He is now slated to become the President of Microsoft’s Voice division when the purchase deal clears regulatory hurdles, according to eweekeurope.com.

Although Skype has more than 600 million registered users, the two firms settled on 170 million as a figure for “connected users”, ie those who regularly use the service, using on average more than 100 minutes per month.

The main revenue opportunity mentioned in the conference was advertising. It would be a natural extension for the user experience, suggesting the ads would include media and be a “rich experience,” said Bates, who is an ex-Cisco VP and former Youtube board member.

The deal has Bates doing rounds in the media with this Microsoft executive, who makes Bates look like the nerdy child nobody talks to in class…