According to Microsoft, “Some of you may experience problems with Skype presence and may not see online. We have detected an issue with the status settings of Skype. Affected users will not be able to change their status, their contacts will all show as offline and they will be unable to start Skype calls to them.”
Unfortunately Microsoft did not mention how long it will take before they can get Skype back online and have services resume as per normal. “We’re working on a fix for this issue and hope to have an update for you soon. Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused while we get this resolved.”
However if you absolutely have to connect to Skype, maybe for a conference call, you can try your luck with the web client, although it is possible that whoever you’re conferencing with might have issues as well. In any case we will be keeping our eyes peeled for more information regarding Skype’s status, so do check back with us soon for more updates.