Since Monday, Skype has been permanently down. Microsoft announced in February that it would be closing the service; user data will be available until the end of January next year.
The end of January 2026 is the deadline the company has given users of the service to delete or secure their data. Since the decision to end Skype, Microsoft has encouraged its users to use the Teams platform.
Skype debuted in 2003, and Microsoft bought it in 2011 for $8.5 billion. According to experts, the service never achieved the expected success, which was primarily due to the fact that its technology was not adapted to the smartphone era.
When Microsoft bought Skype in 2011, the service had about 150 million monthly users, but by 2020 that number had dropped to about 23 million. (PAP)
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