Microsoft Shuts Down Skype, Marking the End of an Era for Internet Calling
Microsoft announced on Friday that it is retiring Skype, the pioneering online voice and video call service that it acquired in 2011.
“Starting in May 2025, Skype will no longer be available,” a post from Skype support on X (formerly Twitter) stated, directing users to switch to Microsoft’s Teams platform for continued use of its services.
Skype evolved to include video calls, instant messaging, file sharing, and group communication features.
Skype was founded in 2003 by Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis of Scandinavia, revolutionizing internet communication by offering free voice calls between computers and affordable rates for calls to landlines and mobile phones.
As internet speeds improved, Skype expanded its features to include video calls, instant messaging, file sharing and group communication, becoming a global phenomenon. By 2005, the platform already boasted 50 million registered users.
In the same year, online auction site eBay acquired Skype for around $2.6 billion. However, the expected synergies never really materialized. eBay sold a majority stake in 2009 to a group of investors who subsequently sold it to Microsoft.
In recent years, particularly with the rise of smartphones, Skype struggled to compete with newer rivals like Meta’s WhatsApp and Zoom, as well as Microsoft’s own Teams platform.
“We’ve learned a lot from Skype… as we’ve evolved Teams over the last seven to eight years,” said Jeff Teper, president of Microsoft 365 collaborative apps and platforms in an interview with CNBC. “We felt now is the time because we can be simpler for the market, for our customer base, and deliver more innovation faster by focusing solely on Teams.”
Microsoft stated that Skype group chats will be retained in the transition to Teams, and during a 60-day window, messages on both Microsoft and Teams will be interoperable so that users can message contacts from either platform. Messages sent to contacts still using Skype will be delivered.
A notable change is the removal of Skype’s telephony features. Users will no longer be able to call regular phone numbers, cell phones, or make international calls through the service.
Microsoft explained to The Verge that these features are no longer as vital in today’s communication landscape due to the prevalence and affordability of mobile data plans.
The name “Skype” was derived from “Sky peer-to-peer,” the underlying technology that was central to Skype’s initial structure. The peer-to-peer aspect was key because it distributed the network demands across users’ computers instead of relying on centralized servers, which was a vital innovation that allowed Skype to quickly scale up in its early years.
