Skype, Microsoft's video calling service that in the mid-2000s was the dominant way to stay in touch with long-distance relatives, is shutting down.
Skype "will no longer be available" for use starting in May, Microsoft announced at X, telling users that their account information could be used for Microsoft Teams in the coming days.
Skype's closure comes 14 years after Microsoft bought the service for $8.5 billion, which marked the largest acquisition of a company at the time. Microsoft integrated the service into its other products, such as Office and the Windows Phone carrier service.
Skype's popularity has waned in recent years, despite other similar products such as Zoom, Google Meet and Cisco webEx seeing an increase in use. Skype has also faced increased competition over the past decade from apps like Apple's FaceTime and Meta's WhatsApp. Plus, Microsoft has invested heavily in Teams, which offers the same but better service.
Skype was launched in 2003 in Estonia and quickly spread as a way to make free calls around the world, something of a revolution considering that international calls on traditional phones used to be very expensive.
The service quickly took off, prompting eBay to buy it in 2005 for $2.6 billion.
However, the partnership didn't work out and eBay sold its 65% stake in Skype to a group of investors for $1.9 billion in 2009 before Microsoft bought it in 2011.