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Tech giant Microsoft, has announced that it will shut down Skype, an internet-based phone and video service.

DAILY POST reports that Skype was once a dominant way of staying connected in the mid 2000s.

Microsoft announced this in a post on its X handle on Friday, saying the service will no longer be available from May, 2025.

“Starting in May 2025, Skype will no longer be available. Over the coming days you can sign in to Microsoft Teams Free with your Skype account to stay connected with all your chats and contacts. Thank you for being part of Skype,” Microsoft posted on X.

Skype’s shutdown comes 14 years after Microsoft bought the service for $8.5 billion in cash.

Microsoft integrated the service into its other products, such as Office and it’s ill-fated mobile operating service Windows Phone.

However, Skype’s popularity has faded in recent years, despite a pandemic bounce that lifted other competing products, including Zoom, Google Meet and Cisco WebEx.

CNN reports that Skype has also faced increased competition over the last decade and a half from apps like Apple’s FaceTime and Meta’s WhatsApp. Plus, Microsoft has been investing heavily in Teams, which offers many of the same services.

Skype launched in 2003 in Estonia and quickly caught on as a way to make free calls worldwide.

The service quickly became popular, leading eBay to buy it in 2005 for $2.6 billion. However, the partnership did not work out, and eBay sold its 65% stake in Skype to an investor group for $1.9 billion in 2009 before Microsoft bought it in 2011.