Microsoft Will Pull The Plug on Skype in May

It’s the end of an era as Microsoft will finally pull the plug on Skype on May 5, 2025. Microsoft will be encouraging Skype users to transition to Microsoft Teams, which can be used for free with a Microsoft account and supports more collaboration features.

“The way we communicate has evolved significantly over the years,” wrote Jeff Teper, President, Microsoft 365 Collaborative Apps + Platforms. “From instant messaging to video calls, technology has continuously transformed how we connect with each other. In order to streamline our free consumer communications offerings so we can more easily adapt to customer needs, we will be retiring Skype in May 2025 to focus on Microsoft Teams, our modern communications and collaboration hub.

Skype has its roots in Northern Europe and was originally launched in 2003. It was acquired two years later by eBay for $2.6 billion, then sold to an investment consortium for $2.75 billion in 2009. In May 2011, Microsoft acquired the company for $8.5 billion and kicked off a long process that led Skype to replace MSN Messenger and Skype for Business to replace Microsoft Lync.

The transition from MSN Messenger to Skype was a messy one and Skype quickly lost ground to WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and other apps that evolved much faster. The app also went through multiple redesigns, but it didn’t benefit from the pandemic even though Zoom and Microsoft Teams saw their popularity explode during that period.

It certainly didn’t help that Skype has been competing with the free version of Microsoft Teams for a couple of years. “Teams” is a strange brand for a messaging app for consumers, however. And if you’re old like me, you may remember that Skype was so popular in the 2000s/early 2010s that it had become a verb. Microsoft closing the app 14 years after its acquisition is certainly a big missed opportunity, but so was the failed $7.5 billion acquisition of Nokia’s phone business in 2013, which the company wrote off a couple of years later.

One of Skype’s unique features was the ability to purchase Skype credit to make calls to mobiles and landlines and text messages at affordable rates. While the free version of Microsoft Teams doesn’t have that, Microsoft hopes that the app’s existing status as a hub for teamwork will be enticing enough.

“With Teams (free), users have access to many of the same core features they use in Skype, such as 1:1 and group calls, messaging, and file sharing,” Teper said today. “Additionally, Teams (free) offers enhanced features like hosting meetings, managing calendars, and building and joining communities for free.”

Over the coming days, Microsoft will initiate a transition period allowing Skype users to sign into Teams using their Skype credentials and see their chats and contacts automatically appear in the app. This should go live today for users in the Teams and Skype Insider programs, and the two apps already support chat federation.

While Microsoft already stopped selling Skype credit in December, the company will also stop offering new customers access to Skype subscriptions. Existing customers will be able to keep using their paid Skype features until the end of their next renewal period or when their credit expires. “After May 5, 2025, the Skype Dial Pad will be available to remaining paid users from the Skype web portal and within Teams,” Teper also explained.

Lastly, Skype users who don’t want to transition to the free version of Microsoft Teams will be able to export their data including chats, contacts, and call history. ”Skype has been an integral part of shaping modern communications and enabling countless meaningful moments, and we are honored to have been part of the journey,” Teper said today.