The Life and Death of Skype

It was 2017, and I felt I had outgrown my role, craving a new challenge. This time, I set my sights on a foreign company, one that would expose me to a diverse, international environment. I kept applying, and soon, a company in the UAE reached out for an interview. The call was conducted via Skype. It began the beginning of one of my transformative aspects of my career, but it was the last time I would be using Skype, a service I first used while in the university in 2006. At the time, video calls were synonymous with Skype and being able to navigate it was a badge of honour.

But just a few hours ago, a blog post went live announcing that in May 2025, the digital giant will take its final bow. Skype, once the undisputed king of internet communication, will go silent, its iconic blue logo fading into the annals of tech history. Microsoft, which acquired Skype for a staggering $8.5 billion in 2011, has announced its official shutdown, urging users to migrate to Microsoft Teams instead.

To understand Skype’s impact, rewind to 2003. In a small office in Estonia, Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis introduced a revolutionary idea: free internet-based calls. At a time when international phone bills could run into hundreds of dollars, Skype was nothing short of a miracle. It allowed people to hear the voices of loved ones from thousands of miles away, without paying a cent. I could vividly remember as a child gathering around the land phone with the rest of the extended family to call my uncle who was schooling in the UK and each person allowed only a few seconds to say Hi because of the hefty bill. Skype changed all that for people of my generation.

By 2005, Skype had 50 million users, and eBay saw an opportunity, purchasing the company for $2.6 billion. However, eBay soon realized that auctioning products and voice communication weren’t exactly a match made in heaven. In 2009, the online marketplace offloaded Skype to an investor group for $1.9 billion. Two years later, Microsoft swooped in, paying an eye-watering $8.5 billion in what was then its largest acquisition.

By 2011, Skype had over 600 million registered users, and by 2013, it accounted for 40% of all international phone traffic. Its ringtone was instantly recognizable, and for many, Skype became synonymous with video calls. Families kept in touch, businesses held virtual meetings, and long-distance relationships thrived. Even world leaders used it; Barack Obama’s campaign famously relied on Skype to connect with voters during his 2008 presidential run. In 2019, Skype was declared the sixth most-downloaded mobile app of the decade.

But then, the cracks began to show.

As competitors like Zoom, WhatsApp, and FaceTime emerged, Skype struggled to keep up. Its clunky interface, frequent connection issues, and sluggish updates turned users away. When the COVID-19 pandemic forced the world online, millions turned to video conferencing. Yet, instead of capitalizing on the moment, Skype was sidelined. In 2020, Zoom skyrocketed from 10 million daily meeting participants to over 300 million. Skype, despite its head start, was barely in the conversation. Skype became another example to use in MBA classes about ‘the person who starts a race hardly ever the one who wins the marathon’. First mover advantage once again in the mud.

Microsoft itself contributed to Skype’s downfall. While it owned the service, it also aggressively pushed Microsoft Teams, integrating it deeply into the corporate world. Slowly but surely, Teams cannibalized Skype’s user base, offering better integration, stability, and features suited for professional communication.

As Skype prepares to fade into oblivion, it leaves behind a legacy that shaped modern communication. It walked so that Zoom, WhatsApp, and Microsoft Teams could run. It changed the way we connected, making borders meaningless and bringing people together at the click of a button. Skype contributed to getting me that job.

Perhaps the most fitting tribute is the fact that Skype didn’t die in disgrace. It simply became a stepping stone, a pioneer whose technology lives on in the very tools that replaced it.