Microsoft to Lay Off More than 200 Skype Employees: Reports

More than 200 Microsoft employees will be laid off as the company shuts down its Skype office in London, U.K., moving some employees to a new Microsoft office in Paddington.

According to a report by the Financial Times, Microsoft said the decision came as it plans to “unify some engineering positions, potentially putting at risk a number of globally focused Skype and Yammer roles.”

Microsoft acquired Skype in 2011 for $8.5 billion. A former Skype employee told the Financial Times that it is “a shell of the company it once was” with several executives departing over the past few years to be replaced by Microsoft managers.

Microsoft has been investing in its Skype for Business offering this year with the January acquisition of the assets from Event Zero.

According to a report by Ars Technica, Microsoft is working on a new Skype client that will be cross-platform, covering Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS, and Android. The new client, along with Skype for Business, is built at Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond.

“With this client being the primary focus, other clients are moving into maintenance mode, making the teams that build them, including many of Skype’s London staff, redundant,” according to the report.

In an annual report released in August Microsoft said that it would terminate about 2,850 jobs globally in Q4 2016.