Skype, the online call pioneer platform that made calls over the internet accessible in the early 2000s, will be retiring this year, Microsoft announced on Friday, as the company focuses its development efforts on Teams.
"Starting in May 2025, Skype will no longer be available," said a post from Skype support on X, directing users to sign into Microsoft's Teams platform for further use of its services.
Microsoft said on Friday: "Skype has been an integral part of shaping modern communications."
The software giant added that the company is "honored to have been part of the journey."
Why is Microsoft shutting down Skype?
Founded in 2003 by Scandinavians Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis in Estonia, Skype quickly disrupted the traditional landline industry after it came out.
However, the platform has struggled to keep up with more user-friendly rivals like Zoom in recent years.
One reason for Skype’s decline is that the service's underlying technology was not built for the smartphone era.
"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 US news channel 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 being focused on Teams," he added.
How many people are still using Skype?
Microsoft did not disclose the current number of Skype users, but they confirmed there would be no job cuts related to the move.
When Microsoft acquired Skype in 2011, it had about 150 million monthly active users. By 2020, that number plummeted to around 23 million.
Teams, on the other hand, has about 320 million monthly active users, according to Microsoft.
The software giant will allow Skype users to log into Teams for free on any supported device with their existing credentials. Their chats and contacts will be migrated automatically.
