Microsoft will no longer automatically bundle Teams with Office in a move to avoid a formal EU antitrust investigation, report the Financial Times.
The alleged concession means that when prospective customers buy Office in the future, they will have the choice of whether also to purchase Teams or not. EU regulators had been in discussions with Microsoft since rivals Slack made an official complaint in 2020 claiming that Microsoft’s bundling of Office and Teams together is uncompetitive.
However, the Financial Times‘ sources emphasised that talks are ongoing and that the mooted deal has not yet been confirmed.
Microsoft told the Financial Times:
We are mindful of our responsibilities in the EU as a major technology company. We continue to engage cooperatively with the commission in its investigation and are open to pragmatic solutions that address its concerns and serve customers well.”
Microsoft’s Antitrust Saga Potentially Nearing a Conclusion
Microsoft has been in discussions with EU regulators about their Teams and Office bundling since the early days of the pandemic in 2020. As the world transitioned into remote and hybrid working, the UC and collaboration industry exploded, with Teams and Slack as two of the most prominent platforms.
Acquired by Salesforce later in 2020, Slack filed an official complaint about the market dominance of Teams’ bundling with Office. David Schellhase, general counsel at Slack, said at the time: “We’re asking the EU to be a neutral referee, examine the facts and enforce the law.”
Following Slack’s complaint, EU probing teams began investigating Microsoft’s dominance of the collaboration space in October 2021. The pressure on Microsoft grew when, a month later, 30 European software firms united to take on Microsoft, calling the tech giant’s business practices anti-competitive by its tightly integrating OneDrive and Teams with Windows.
In December 2022, Reuters reported that Microsoft had been looking to settle with the European Commission over its antitrust concerns. Earlier this year, Microsoft offered to reform its cloud computing practices in a bid to settle antitrust complaints and avoid an EU probe.
Microsoft’s History With Antitrust
Microsoft has had regulatory discussions with the EU Commission in the past. In 2008, Microsoft was accused of using its dominant market position in web browsers to bundle Internet Explorer with Windows. It settled in 2009, promising to offer users a selection of rival browsers. However, in 2013 Microsoft was fined €561 million for failing to adhere to that principle.
The organization has also been seeking regulatory approval for its $69 billion acquisition of videogame publisher Activision Blizzard, a move which rival Sony has complained about as being uncompetitive.
Perhaps its most famous legal battle occurred around 2000 in the U.S.A., when the business was originally broken up into two separate companies. However, the ruling was overturned and Microsoft and the U.S. Department of Justice settled in 2001, agreeing that Microsoft would share APIs with third parties and permit PC manufacturers to install non-Microsoft software on their hardware.
