On February 28, 2025, Microsoft announced its intent to retire Skype by May 2025, signaling Microsoft Teams as its primary communication and collaboration platform. This will mark the end for one of the leading platforms that revolutionized internet-based communication.
Skype was founded in 2003 by Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, with the vision of allowing people to make free voice and video calls over the internet. Two years following its launch, Skype had amassed a user base of over half a billion users, as it was the only reliable platform that facilitated international calls for free, as other platforms were expensive.
This led to Skype catching the attention of an e-commerce company, eBay. In 2005, Niklas and Janus sold the company for $2.6 billion to eBay. EBay hoped to utilize the advantage of Skype’s online phone services and its innovative peer-to-peer technology, which would allow eBay to provide service to users globally without having to build or host a centralized server.
However, in 2011 Microsoft purchased Skype to replace its Windows Live Messenger for $8.5 billion in a gamble to catch up with Apple, which had FaceTime. As of the time of the purchase, Skype already had a user base of 170 million people registered to its voice-over-internet-protocol. This was the largest purchase by the company.
After the purchase, Microsoft integrated Skype into its technologies, such as Xbox and Windows devices. This allowed Skype users to connect with Lync, Outlook, Xbox Live, and other communities and aided Microsoft to connect callers to the phone system and provide one-on-one video chat easily.
At its peak, Skype boasted of 300 million daily users as of 2013, but in early 2023, the numbers dwindled to 36 million daily users. However, due to the rise of competing platforms like WhatsApp and Zoom, Microsoft diverted its focus to the creation of Teams, one of the products of its Office 365 package, although changes were made in 2024 to have it as a stand-alone product.
Microsoft Teams was launched in 2017 as a single tool encompassing group calls, audio and video conferencing, online meetings, file sharing capabilities, and chat functions. Its free version for non-office users became widely used by 2018. In 2021, Microsoft phased out its Skype for Business, replacing it with Teams.
Following the COVID-19 pandemic, Microsoft Teams became a worldwide used platform for remote teamwork. Teams experienced a rise in user base from 20 million users in 2019 to 44 million in March 2020, and then an exponential increase of 75 million users by April 2020.
Teams was able to retain its user base post-pandemic and has grown steadily to a user base of over 320 million daily. Teams now stand as the focus of Microsoft’s modern communications and collaboration hub.
In an article released by Microsoft to assure users concerning the change, the company wrote, “With Teams, users have access to many of the same core features they use in Skype… Additionally, Teams offers enhanced features like hosting meetings, managing calendars, and building and joining communities for free.”
Skype users have the transition period from now until May 2025 to migrate to Microsoft Teams for free, in which they would be able to log into Teams with their Skype account, recover all information, and pick up where they left off in Skype. The users also have the second option of exporting all data, ranging from chats, contacts, and call history.
During the transition period, Skype’s credit and monthly subscription plans will be discontinued. However, users with active subscription plans can continue to use their credits and subscription until the end date of the subscription and credits. “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. We also understand that change can be challenging and want you to know we are here to support you every step of the way.” – Extract from Microsoft’s parting note to Skype The next chapter: moving from Skype to Microsoft Teams.
