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(Sharecast News) - Microsoft announced on Friday that it is planning to shut down its voice and video-conferencing product Skype in May as it focuses on the more popular Teams offering.
"Starting in May 2025, Skype will no longer be available," the platform said on X on Friday.
Users will be able to sign into the free version of Microsoft Teams with their Skype account, where they will still be able to access their call history, contacts, group chats and other data, the company said.
Skype, which was launched in 2003 and purchased by Microsoft in 2011 for $8.5bn - at the time, its largest acquisition - has struggled to keep up with rising competition in recent decades.
Zoom, Slack (owned by Salesforce) and Microsoft's own Teams product, which all feature voice and video-conferencing capabilities, all experienced surges in demand from businesses from the outset of the pandemic, while consumer-facing solutions like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger have been drawing users away from Skype for years.
"Skype has been an integral part of shaping modern communications. We also understand that change can be challenging," said Jeff Teper, Microsoft's president of collaborative apps and platforms, in a blog post.
"We're excited about the new opportunities that Teams brings and are committed to helping you stay connected in new and meaningful ways."
MSFT shares were down 0.3% at $391.39 by 1110 in New York.
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