--- title: "Microsoft paid $8.5 billion for Skype, then spent over a decade sabotaging it" url: https://daily.dev/posts/microsoft-paid-8-5-billion-for-skype-then-spent-over-a-decade-sabotaging-it-m5agiszum source_url: https://www.xda-developers.com/microsoft-paid-85-billion-skype-spent-over-decade-sabotaging-it type: article source: "XDA Developers" published: 2026-07-01T14:35:19.768Z updated: 2026-07-01T14:47:33.988Z tags: ["microsoft", "product-management"] reading_time: 5 upvotes: 2 comments: 2 language: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Microsoft paid $8.5 billion for Skype, then spent over a decade sabotaging it **[XDA Developers](https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers)** · 5 min read · 2 upvotes · 2 comments ## Summary A retrospective on Microsoft's $8.5 billion acquisition of Skype in 2011 and how the company systematically failed to leverage it. After killing off Windows Live Messenger, Microsoft never meaningfully integrated Skype into its ecosystem, failed to respond to competitors like Discord, and eventually launched Teams for personal use — a product that was nearly unusable for years. The piece argues Microsoft's pattern of acquiring competitors rather than investing in its own products, then letting those acquisitions stagnate, led to Skype's inevitable shutdown. Teams is seen as an inadequate replacement that will never achieve the cultural relevance Skype once had. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@akkitto** · 1 upvotes > Good old times. I had used Skype before the acquisition and it was _the_ way to communicate with friends online. ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Microsoft spent six months overhauling Teams, and now it feels as responsive as it should](https://daily.dev/posts/microsoft-spent-six-months-overhauling-teams-and-now-it-feels-as-responsive-as-it-should-wapnk3oq8) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#microsoft](https://daily.dev/tags/microsoft), [#product-management](https://daily.dev/tags/product-management) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/microsoft-paid-8-5-billion-for-skype-then-spent-over-a-decade-sabotaging-it-m5agiszum)