Verizon is shutting down the videoconferencing app it bought for $400 million

Verizon’s big BlueJeans deal seems to have been a bust.

Verizon is shutting down BlueJeans, its Zoom competitor it acquired in the early days of the covid pandemic, as reported by 9to5Google.

9to5Google shared the text of an email received by BlueJeans customers that said that “we have made the difficult decision to sunset our suite of BlueJeans products.” BlueJeans’ recently introduced free Basic plan and free trial offerings will be discontinued on August 31st, according to the email. That email doesn’t say how long people on BlueJeans’ paid offerings will have access to the company’s services. Verizon didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.

BlueJeans was a huge acquisition for Verizon; when the deal was announced in April 2020, CNBC reported that Verizon was going to pay around $400 million for the company. At the time, videoconferencing companies like Zoom and BlueJeans were seeing increased usage during the pandemic, but now that many companies have implemented policies bringing workers back to the office, virtual collaboration apps aren’t quite as hot as they used to be.

Zoom, by the way, is asking some of its staff to return to the office.