Skype, the fastest growing telecom company, was just bought by Microsoft for $8.5 billion.

Judge as of 20 August 2011. The core facts are that Microsoft agreed to buy Skype for $8.5 billion and that the deal was recent; a deal announced (May 2011) and pending or closed counts as 'just bought'. Skype being the 'fastest growing telecom company' is a secondary descriptive detail. TRUE: Microsoft announced or completed its acquisition of Skype for about $8.5 billion in 2011, and Skype was widely reported then as growing faster than other telecom/communications providers (by users or minutes). MOSTLY TRUE: the acquisition and price are right, but the 'fastest growing telecom company' label is unsupported or debatable (e.g., Skype was among the fastest-growing, not clearly the fastest), or the deal was announced but not yet closed. MOSTLY FALSE: Microsoft bought Skype, but the price differs materially from $8.5 billion (more than about 10%). FALSE: Microsoft had not agreed to buy Skype by August 2011.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 What's Behind Microsoft's US$8.5 Billion Takeover of Skype? Knowledge at Wharton (Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania) · 25 May 2011

   “Rumors that Facebook or Cisco would buy Skype were proven wrong on May 10 when Microsoft struck an US$8.5 billion deal — its largest ever — to acquire the online voice and video chat service.”

2. E2 Microsoft Officially Welcomes Skype - Source Microsoft News Center (Microsoft Corp.) · 13 October 2011

   “Negotiations of the definitive agreement under which Microsoft would acquire Skype, an Internet communications company, for $8.5 billion were led by investor group Silver Lake and the transaction was originally announced on May 10, 2011.”

3. E3 Skype Revenue Up 20 Percent To $860M In 2010; Paid Users Up 19 Percent | TechCrunch TechCrunch · 7 March 2011

   “Net revenues increased by 20% from $719 million in pro forma 2009 to $860 million in 2010, and Adjusted EBITDA increased by 43% from $185 million in pro forma 2009 to $264 million in 2010.”

4. E4 What's Behind Microsoft's US$8.5 Billion Takeover of Skype? Knowledge at Wharton (Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania) · 25 May 2011

   “the fact that Skype has the scale and is as big as or bigger than any traditional carrier, without the encumbrances of those legacy business models, gives it an opportunity.”

E1 and E2 confirm that Microsoft agreed on May 10, 2011 to buy Skype for $8.5 billion. E2 confirms the deal was announced on May 10, 2011, and its October 13, 2011 release welcoming Skype suggests the deal was completed by that date, though the evidence does not give an exact closing date. E3 shows Skype's revenue grew 20% in 2010, and E4 describes Skype as being as big as or bigger than traditional carriers. Neither shows Skype was clearly the fastest-growing telecom company, so that label is unsupported, which the criteria rate as mostly true.