Microsoft is closing down Skype, the video-calling service it bought for $8.5 billion in 2011 and which had helped spark a transformation in how people communicate online.

Microsoft will soon switch off Skype, a pioneering telecom and video call platform that emerged from the rubble of the dotcom era.

Microsoft announced Friday it will be “retiring” Skype in May, nearly 22 years after the web-based phone and video calling service launched ― and helped popularize the idea of free, internet-based calls.