Microsoft is shutting down Skype, the video-calling service it acquired for $8.5 billion in 2011, which played a pivotal role in transforming online communication. The tech giant announced it will retire Skype in May, shifting some of its services to Microsoft Teams, its primary videoconferencing and team applications platform. Skype users will be able to use their existing accounts to log into Teams.

Microsoft has prioritized Teams over Skype for years, and this decision reflects the company’s aim to streamline its main communications app amid fierce competition. Founded in 2003 by a group of engineers in Tallinn, Estonia, Skype was a pioneer in enabling telephone calls over the internet instead of landlines. It utilized VOIP (voice over internet protocol) technology, which converts audio into a digital signal transmitted online. Skype introduced video calls after being acquired by eBay in 2005.

“You no longer had to be a senior manager in a Fortune 500 company to have a good quality video call with someone else,” noted a management professor at Northeastern University who studies the history of virtual and remote work. “It brought a lot of people around the world closer.”

The ability to bypass expensive international phone calls to connect with distant coworkers was beneficial for startups and individuals alike. “You could suddenly have long calls, frequent calls, that were either free or very inexpensive,” the professor added.

Scammers also took advantage of the platform, as with other new technologies. By 2011, when Microsoft bought Skype from eBay, it had about 170 million users worldwide. “The Skype brand has become a verb, nearly synonymous with video and voice communications,” then-Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said during an event announcing the planned merger.

Skype was still considered cutting-edge in 2017 when the Trump administration used it to field questions from journalists remotely. A month later, Microsoft launched Teams to compete with the growing demand for workplace chat services driven by Slack Technologies. Slack, Teams, and newer video platforms like Zoom experienced explosive growth during the COVID-19 pandemic as companies shifted to remote work, and families and friends sought new tools for virtual gatherings.

By then, Skype was already declining but had laid the groundwork for strengthening remote connections. “Higher-quality media can really deepen relationships and make people able to work through complex problems much better,” the professor said. “Suddenly, this was available to anyone with a decent internet connection. And that was the real sort of revolutionary role that Skype had.”