Skype shuts down on 5 May
As of May 5, Microsoft is retiring Skype…
Microsoft announced that it is retiring Skype, the pioneering online voice and video call platform that the tech giant acquired in 2011.
"Starting in May 2025, Skype will no longer be available," said a post from Skype Support on X, directing users to sign into Microsoft Teams for continued use of its services.
Skype was founded in 2003 by Scandinavians Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis in Estonia, revolutionising internet communication by offering free voice calls between computers and affordable rates for calls to landlines and mobile phones.
As internet speeds improved over the years, Skype evolved to include video calls, instant messaging, file sharing, and group communication features.
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By 2005, Skype had already reached 50 million registered users, demonstrating its rapid global adoption.
Online auction site eBay acquired Skype in 2005 for approximately $2.6 billion. However, the expected synergies never materialised.
In 2009, eBay sold a majority stake to a group of investors, who later sold it to Microsoft.
In recent years, especially with the rise of smartphones, Skype has struggled to maintain its position against rivals such as Meta-owned WhatsApp, Zoom, and even Microsoft's own Teams platform.
"We've learned a lot from Skype as we've evolved Teams over the last seven to eight years," Jeff Teper, president of Microsoft 365 collaborative apps and platforms, told CNBC.
"But we felt like now is the time, because we can be simpler for the market, for our customer base, and we can deliver more innovation faster just by focusing on Teams."
Microsoft said that Skype group chats would remain intact during the transition to Teams.
During a 60-day window, messages on Microsoft Teams and Skype will be interoperable, allowing users to message contacts from Teams, with messages delivered to friends still using Skype.
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One major change is the removal of Skype's telephony features, meaning users will no longer be able to call regular phone numbers, mobile phones, or make international calls through the service.
Microsoft told The Verge that these features are no longer as relevant in today's communication landscape, where mobile data plans are more affordable.
The name "Skype" is derived from "Sky peer-to-peer", the technology fundamental to Skype's original architecture.
The peer-to-peer model was crucial, as it distributed network demands across users' computers rather than relying solely on centralised servers.
This was a key innovation that allowed Skype to scale rapidly in its early years.
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