Video calling platform Skype has officially shut down after nearly 22 years.
Its parent company, Microsoft, confirmed that Monday 5th May would be the platform’s final day of operation as it continued to struggle to retain its place as the global powerhouse in its industry.
Apps like Teams, Zoom, Google Meets and FaceTime quickly began competing with and overtaking Skype, which was bought by eBay in 2005 for a whopping $2.6bn.
This was before it was acquired by Microsoft in 2011 for $8.5bn. Five years later, 300 million people were making Skype calls every month.
However, this was a user number that was being replicated daily by its rival Zoom by the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic and Microsoft itself had rolled out Teams in 2017, something which it began to focus on more and more as Skype lagged behind.
It was in February 2025 that the global giant announced that it would close the curtains on Skype.
“Skype has been an integral part of shaping modern communications and supporting countless meaningful moments, and we are honored to have been part of the journey,” said a post from Jeff Teper, president of collaborative apps and platforms at Microsoft.
Users of the platform can now migrate their contacts and chat data to Microsoft Teams.
Alternatively, they will be able to download their data from the app and move to another video calling service.