Microsoft’s $8.5 billion acquisition of Skype in 2011 aimed to compete with the rising iPhone. However, after 14 years, the company failed to revive Skype’s popularity. Once a pioneering VoIP service, it was effectively killed off by Microsoft.
Skype’s decline began around 2012, when the company laid off engineers and closed its Stockholm office just five years after an investment. In contrast to typical Microsoft offices, Skype’s workspace felt unique, with no formal dress code, special acoustics panels, and meeting over its network.
Microsoft’s handling of Skype has made it a forgotten relic of an era dominated by Google and Apple’s mobile services. The company is now moving on from failed mobile efforts like Windows Phone, and laying Skype to rest alongside them.
Source: https://www.theverge.com/notepad-microsoft-newsletter/625180/skype-retirement-end-of-support-may-microsoft-notepad