The possible acquisition from Skype by Microsoft Corp. to be announced on this Tuesday morning is raising speculations and forecasts worldwide. According to reports, the transaction can be valued at around $8.5 billion including debt, and would be the biggest purchase by Microsoft in years. The last significant deal involving the company was in 2007, when it bought the online advertising group aQuantive Inc. for around $6 billion.

Specialists explained that the deal is part of Microsoft’s expansions plans on the internet, competing with Google Inc. and Apple Inc. The American world’s largest software company is investing more into areas such as internet and mobile, since the new technologies have been underpinning the importance of the personal computer.

Based in Luxembourg, Skype was founded in 2003. The owner of the company is an investor group headed by a Silver Lake’s firm in which eBay Inc. is included. A majority stake in Skype was sold by EBay in 2009 to a group of private investors. The beloved video conferencing service provides users connections via the Internet for free. Other services such as calling phones are also available for users who pay.

According to statistics published by Skype, in the second quarter from last year, the company had nearly 124 million users connected per month.