MSN Messenger

The sound of nudges after school

Replaced
19902026

MSN Messenger (later Windows Live Messenger) was the instant messenger of the 2000s outside the US, launched by Microsoft on 22 July 1999 and peaking at over 330 million monthly users in 2009. Microsoft retired it in April 2013 in favour of Skype, with mainland China following on 31 October 2014.

Timeline

  1. 1999
  2. 22 July 1999 Launch
    MSN Messenger Service launches

    Microsoft's answer to AIM and ICQ.

  3. August 1999 Incident
    The AIM interoperability war

    Microsoft ships AIM compatibility; AOL blocks it in a weeks-long cat-and-mouse protocol fight.

  4. 2001
  5. 25 October 2001 Feature
    Windows Messenger ships inside Windows XP

    Bundling with the world's dominant OS supercharges growth outside the US.

  6. 2005
  7. 13 December 2005 Rebrand
    Becomes Windows Live Messenger

    Part of the Windows Live rebrand.

  8. 2009
  9. June 2009 Peak
    Over 330 million active users a month

    Microsoft's own figure; the largest messenger of its time.

  10. 2011
  11. 10 May 2011 Acquisition
    Microsoft buys Skype for $8.5 billion

    The purchase that seals Messenger's fate.

  12. 2012
  13. 6 November 2012 Shutdown announced
    Microsoft announces retirement in favour of Skype

    Accounts and contacts to migrate to Skype.

  14. 2013
  15. 8 April 2013 Decline
    Global migration to Skype begins

    Rolled out language by language through April.

  16. 2014
  17. 31 October 2014 Shutdown
    Messenger shuts down in mainland China

    The last Messenger servers go offline.

Ownership

Microsoft 1999–2014 Founded

Key figures

MetricValueAs ofConfidence
Monthly active users ▲ 330 million June 2009 Reported Microsoft figure, June 2009
Monthly active users 100 million November 2012 Reported At the retirement announcement

Confirmed official figures · Reported media, cites a source · Estimated analyst or our estimate

Why it shut down

Official line: Microsoft retired Messenger in favour of Skype, which it had bought in 2011, migrating accounts and contacts into Skype.

Our analysis: Messenger did not lose its users; Microsoft moved them. After paying $8.5 billion for Skype it had two chat networks and killed the older one. Most of the world migrated in April 2013; mainland China followed on 31 October 2014.

History

After-school infrastructure

Microsoft launched MSN Messenger in July 1999 as its answer to AIM, and through the 2000s it became the default social channel for teenagers across Europe, Latin America and Asia. Nudges, winks, custom emoticons, "appear offline", song-in-status: an entire etiquette grew around it. Rebranded Windows Live Messenger in 2005, it peaked at more than 330 million active users a month in 2009, making it the biggest messenger of its era.

Absorbed by Skype

Smartphones moved chat to WhatsApp and Facebook, and Microsoft's own $8.5 billion Skype acquisition in 2011 made Messenger redundant in-house. In November 2012 Microsoft announced the merge; in April 2013 sign-ins started redirecting to Skype, country by country, and on 31 October 2014 the last servers, in mainland China, went dark. Messenger is the cleanest example of the 'replaced' status in this database: the users, accounts and contact lists survived, but the product and its culture did not. Skype itself was shut down by Microsoft in May 2025, outliving its victim by twelve years.

Similar projects

ICQ The messenger that gave you a number 1996–2024 AIM Away messages and slammed doors 1997–2017 Yahoo Messenger Booted from the chat room one last time 1998–2018 Skype The app that made calling the world free 2003–2025 Google Allo Google's WhatsApp that wasn't 2016–2019 Google Hangouts One messenger to rule them all, briefly 2013–2022

Sources

  1. End Of An Era: Windows Live Messenger To Be Retired, Users Transitioned To Skype TechCrunch 6 November 2012 [archived]
  2. Windows Live Messenger, R.I.P. ITPro Today 8 April 2013

Last verified: 11 August 2026