Microsoft to officially shutdown Skype in May

California: Microsoft has announced that it is shutting down online voice and video calling pioneer Skype, which the technology titan acquired in 2011.

According to a report by French news agency AFP, a Skype support post on X said that Skype will not be available from May 5, 2025, with users instructed to sign in to Microsoft’s Teams platform to continue using its services.

Skype said that its closure will help Microsoft simplify its communications offerings and focus on its native Teams service.

Founded in Estonia in 2003 by Scandinavians Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, Skype revolutionized internet communications by offering free voice calls between computers and affordable rates for calls to landlines and mobile phones.

Over time, as internet speeds improved, Skype added features such as video calls, instant messaging, file sharing, and group communication.

By 2005, Skype had already reached 50 million registered users, indicating its rapid global acceptance.

Online auction site eBay acquired Skype in 2005 for about $2.6 billion, but the anticipated synergy never materialized, and in 2009 eBay sold a majority stake to a group of investors, who sold it to Microsoft.

In recent years, especially after the rise of the smartphone, Skype has struggled to maintain its position in the face of new competitors such as Meta-owned WhatsApp and Microsoft-owned Teams.

“We’ve learned a lot from Skype, we’ve built Teams over the last 7 to 8 years,” Jeff Tapper, president of Microsoft 365 shared apps and platforms, told CNBC.

“But we felt it was time now, because we could be simpler for the market, for our customer base, and we could deliver innovation more quickly by focusing on just Teams,” he said.