Skype Is Officially Retiring — Find out Who Owns It and Why It’s Shutting Down
Goodbye Skype, hello Teams.
Published March 3 2025, 9:37 a.m. ET
Technology has come a long way since 2003, the year Skype — one of the earliest free video- and voice-calling programs — was launched. That same year, MySpace made its debut, and Facebook followed in 2004. At the time, AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) was already a seasoned player in the communications space. Fast forward to today, and many of these platforms have been phased out or replaced, with Facebook being one of the few to hold its ground.
As technology evolved, more advanced apps and programs emerged, pushing out older services. Skype, however, managed to stay relevant for decades. But on Feb. 28, 2025, its parent company announced that Skype would be retired by May 2025. So, who owns Skype now, and what happens to its users moving forward?
Who owns Skype?
Skype is owned by Microsoft, which also owns major platforms like Windows, LinkedIn, Bing, and Xbox Game Pass. However, Microsoft isn't credited with founding Skype. The video and voice calling platform was actually created by Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, who launched the company in 2003, per Business Insider.
The founders used the foundation from KaZaA, a peer-to-peer file-sharing app released in 2001, which faced a similar fate to Napster (haven't heard that name in a while, huh?) due to legal issues surrounding copyright music sharing. Unlike KaZaA, however, Skype allowed people to make calls for free, leading to the idea of the video and voice calling platform. They registered the domain in April 2003, and by August of that year, the beta version of Skype was being tested.
Microsoft acquired Skype for $8.5 billion in 2011.
It wasn’t until 2011 that Microsoft acquired Skype for a whopping $8.5 billion. Just a year before the acquisition, Skype boasted 170 million users, per a 2011 Skype press release.
The deal seemed solid, as it was expected to get more people using Skype and accessing real-time video and voice communications, "bringing benefits to both consumers and enterprise users and generating significant new business and revenue opportunities." Skype’s broader reach partly came from the fact that it would be supported by Microsoft devices like Xbox, Kinect, and Windows Phone.
While Skype certainly had a good run, communication methods have evolved. To streamline its "free consumer communications offerings so [they could] more easily adapt to customer needs," Microsoft announced in a Feb. 28, 2025, press release that it would be retiring Skype in May 2025. Instead, the company will shift its focus solely to Microsoft Teams, which is also free, and will incorporate some of Skype’s features.
What will happen to Skype accounts?
As of May 2025, Skype will be no more, meaning users will need to switch to Microsoft Teams or find a new communication platform. In the coming days, Microsoft will enable Skype users to log into Teams using their existing credentials on any supported device.
"By logging in to Teams with a Skype account, chats and contacts will automatically appear in the app so you can quickly pick up where you left off," the press release explains. So, while Skype is going away, Microsoft Teams is essentially stepping in to take its place.