Redmond, Wash. (AP) – Microsoft is shutting down Skype, a video call service that it purchased for $8.5 billion in 2011.
Tech Giant said on Friday that it would remove Skype in May and shift some of its services to the flagship video conferencing platform, Microsoft Teams. Skype users can log in to their team using their existing account.
Microsoft has had a team that has prioritized over Skype for many years. The decision to fold a brand is part of a broader change in the way people communicate online.
Founded in 2003 by a group of engineers in Tallinn, Estonia, Skype was a pioneer who used the internet to make calls instead of landline phones. Online retailer eBay added video calls after purchasing the service in 2005.
By 2011, when Microsoft purchased it from eBay, Skype had around 170 million users worldwide, then Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said at an event that announced the planned merger.
“The Skype brand has become a verb and has become almost synonymous with video and audio communication,” Ballmer says.
Skype was considered high-tech in 2017, when President Donald Trump’s administration was recently launched, and used questions from journalists far from the White House press conference room.
Original issue: February 28, 2025, 1:37pm
