News has it that Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is closing down its Live Messenger, previously known by the name of MSN Messenger, by the end of October, 2014. The company has taken this decision due to the falling numbers of its users. Moreover, a number of users shifted to Skype- owned by Microsoft- quite some time ago.

Although there are a number of people who use the messenger, especially in the country of China, but the news has it that all these users will be shifted to Skype for the company has decided to close down the messenger all over the world latest by 31^st October, 2014.

MSN Messenger was introduced back in 1999 to compete against the AIM service of AOL. The messenger was renamed back in 2005 as the Windows Live Messenger, and its user base reached the highest numbers in 2009.

According to a survey done in 2010, the users spent around 163 billion minutes each month on the program; the figures are one tenth of the total amount that those users spent over the internet.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) introduced its messenger service in the country of China back in 2005. The company, however, faced tough competition with QQ Messenger.

The company recently offered the Chinese users free Skype credit if they willingly shift to Skype.

The live messenger of Microsoft could also be used for live gaming on the Xbox 360; this change was brought about by the integration of gaming console in the messenger back in 2007. One of the interesting features of the Live Xbox was that it allowed the players to chat online while they were watching a show or playing a game. Moreover, it also allowed the users to keep a track of their friends as to which games they were playing on the Xbox.

Market analysts are of the view that the Messenger for Xbox will also be closed down in the near futures. The company had been planning on shifting its live users to its video program since the time it purchased Skype. At the end of 2012, only 100 million active users were on the Windows Live Messenger. The company, at that time, decided to transfer the users to its Skype Program. It is important to note here that Skype comes pre-installed in Windows Phones as well as the Personal Computers.

Skype is an application that can be used on almost all the platforms, including Android, Google, Mac OS and the much famous iOS. The program allows free chat and video calls from PCs; however, the company charges the user for some amount if they use the software to make phone calls on landline numbers and cell phones.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), on the last day of trading, September 01, 2014, kicked off at a value of $45.09 and ended the session at $45.43. The intraday range for company’s stocks was recorded to be from $44.85 to $45.44. The company enjoys a market cap of 374.34 billion and a ratio for Price to Earnings of 17.26. As far as the dividend yield of company’s stocks goes, the figure stands at a value of 2.47 percent.

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