Microsoft to Discontinue Skype Service in May “`

REDMOND, Wash. — Microsoft will discontinue Skype, the video-calling platform it acquired for $8.5 billion in 2011.

The technology corporation announced on Friday that Skype would be phased out in May. Some services will be transferred to Microsoft Teams, their primary video conferencing platform. Current Skype users can access Teams using their existing login credentials.

Microsoft has been focusing on Teams instead of Skype for several years. The decision to eliminate the Skype brand reflects a larger change in online communication methods.

Skype, established in 2003 by a team of engineers, pioneered internet-based telephone calls as an alternative to traditional landlines. After online retailer eBay purchased the service in 2005, video call capabilities were added.

By 2011, when Microsoft acquired Skype from eBay, it had approximately 170 million users globally, according to then-Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer during the merger announcement.

“The Skype brand has become a verb, almost synonymous with video and voice communications,” Ballmer stated.

Skype was still considered innovative in 2017 when President Donald Trump’s administration used it to communicate from locations away from the White House press briefing room.