Gear News of the Week: Skype Will Close for Good in May

Pour out a little liquor. Microsoft has announced that Skype, the popular video-calling app of the early 2010s, will finally be laid to rest on May 5. Microsoft acquired the app in 2011 for a staggering $8.5 billion—some 40 percent higher than its internal valuation and the largest acquisition by Microsoft at the time. Some quick math by WIRED editor Jeremy White worked out that's a cost to the company of around $1.6 million per day since its acquisition, and it's hard to believe such a heavy investment has really paid off. There were good days though. In 2016, at its peak, it was estimated there were around 300 million users—but then the competition arrived thick and fast. As we turned to new tools like Slack, Zoom, Whatsapp calling, and Microsoft's own Teams, Skype struggled to keep hold of its user base. As of 2023, the most recent data Microsoft shared put it at 36 million users worldwide. Don't panic if you're one of them, the service won't be switched off immediately. You have ... Read full article.