It's over in May Microsoft is pulling the plug on Skype for good

Skype was founded in 2003 and enabled free voice and video calls for the masses over the internet for the first time. After 22 years, Microsoft is now pulling the plug.

DPA

03.03.2025, 09:35

03.03.2025, 13:40

dpa

Microsoft will discontinue the operation of its video telephony program Skype. Skype announced this on the short message platform X. "From May 2025, Skype will no longer be available," the post on X reads. Over the next few days, users will be able to sign in to Microsoft Teams for free with their Skype account to stay in touch with all their chats and contacts.

Skype was founded in 2003 by Swedish entrepreneur Niklas Zennström and Danish entrepreneur Janus Friis in Luxembourg. The service enabled free voice and video calls over the Internet to a mass audience for the first time. It was particularly popular for international communication as it avoided high telephone costs.

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At its peak, Skype had several hundred million users per month worldwide. Most recently, according to the statistics service Similar Web, the number was only around 30 million users per month.

Skype users can not only call other Skype users, but also make calls to landline and mobile numbers. However, this requires Skype Credit or a subscription.

8.5 billion for Skype

Microsoft bought Skype in 2011 for 8.5 billion US dollars and integrated it into its ecosystem, for example in the Windows operating system and Office software. Despite this integration, Microsoft was unable to permanently establish Skype as the leading communication service.

The introduction of Microsoft Teams in 2017 not only opened up competition within the company, but also marked the beginning of Skype's decline. User numbers have fallen sharply.

Skype lost market share to competitors such as Zoom and WhatsApp, particularly during the coronavirus pandemic. However, Microsoft Teams has now established itself as one of the leading providers in the market for collaboration software and plays a central role in corporate communication.