Microsoft is killing Skype today, pushes users to Teams

The Skype video call and messaging service is shutting down today, 14 years after replacing Microsoft's Windows Live Messenger. Skype was first released in August 2003 by a collective of Swedish, Danish, and Estonian developers and was sold to eBay two years later, in September 2005, which bought it for $2.6 billion. Microsoft acquired the telecommunications platform in May 2011, paying $8.5 billion, and used it to replace its cross-platform instant messaging client, Windows Live Messenger. The company revealed in February 2023, when it unveiled an AI-powered Bing integration for the messaging service, that over 36 million people were using Skype daily to connect via video calls and chats. In February 2025, 14 years after buying it, Microsoft announced that Skype would go offline on May 5, offering Skype users 60 days to export their data or migrate to the free Teams app for consumers. "Over the coming days, we will roll out the ability for Skype users to sign into Teams (free) on ... Read full article.