Microsoft on Friday announced that it will officially shut down its 14-year-old internet calling and messaging service Skype on May 5, 2005.
Bloomberg reports As Microsoft works to shut down Skype, existing users of the service will have until May 5 to migrate their data and contacts to Microsoft Teams or seek alternative solutions.
Skype played a big role in popularizing VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) technology, making it easy for both individuals and organizations to communicate with other users around the globe. However, the service had several reliability issues, as well as an inability to keep up with the feature sets of competitors.
Microsoft acquired Skype in 2011 for $8.5 billion, and at its peak, the service had more than 300 million monthly active users. unfortunately, the service’s user base steadily declined in recent years, shrinking to approximately 36 million by 2023 as several competitors stole its thunder, including Zoom, WhatsApp, and Microsoft’s own Teams platform.
The company’s decision to shut down Skype is reportedly part of a broader effort to prioritize artificial intelligence features within Teams. Employees currently working on Skype will not be laid off, but will instead be reassigned to other projects.
