
The deal did not work out well, with a failure to shoehorn Windows Phone into the public’s consciousness leading to Microsoft announcing a major restructuring plan for its mobile business that effectively meant it was writing off the money it paid to acquire the business. This wasn’t a full company acquisition, but Microsoft snapped up Nokia’s mobile phone unit for $7.2 billion in 2013. Skype is still going strong, but it has many more competitors these days in the form of messaging apps with voice-calling features built in. Microsoft acquired Skype for $8.5 billion in 2011, not an entirely unreasonable fee for a service that pretty much owned the consumer voice over internet protocol (VoIP) market.

Here’s a quick look back at Microsoft’s 5 biggest acquisitions before today’s news emerged.
