Microsoft Dodges EU Fine Over Teams Bundling After Slack Complaint
▼ Summary
– Microsoft avoided an EU fine by committing to address antitrust concerns over bundling Teams with Office 365 and Microsoft 365.
– The European Commission accepted Microsoft’s commitments following a 2020 complaint from Slack about anti-competitive practices.
– Microsoft will offer Office suites without Teams at a lower price and allow customers to switch or move data to competing solutions.
– Most commitments will be enforced for seven years, with interoperability and data portability measures lasting ten years.
– The decision aims to open competition in the communication tools market, letting businesses freely choose products that suit their needs.
Microsoft has successfully avoided significant financial penalties from the European Union following an extensive antitrust investigation into its practice of bundling the Teams communication platform with its Office 365 and Microsoft 365 subscription packages. The European Commission confirmed it has accepted a series of binding commitments from the tech giant, effectively closing a case that began with a formal complaint by Slack Technologies in mid-2020.
These commitments are designed to resolve concerns that Microsoft’s integration of Teams with its widely used productivity software, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook, unfairly limited customer choice and stifled competition in the business software market.
As part of the agreement, Microsoft will now offer versions of its Office suites that do not include Teams, priced at a lower rate to reflect the exclusion. Existing enterprise clients with multi-year licenses will have the option to transition to these Teams-free packages. Additionally, the company must enable interoperability between rival communication tools and certain Microsoft products, simplifying data migration for businesses that wish to switch to competing platforms.
Most of these obligations will remain in effect for a period of seven years, with interoperability and data portability requirements extending to ten years. This decision follows Microsoft’s earlier move to unbundle Teams from Office in European markets in 2023, a step that later expanded into a global separation of the applications.
The European Commission emphasized the growing importance of collaboration software, particularly in the wake of increased remote work during the pandemic. A representative noted that the ruling helps ensure a more competitive landscape, allowing companies to select communication tools based on their specific needs rather than being locked into a bundled ecosystem.
The investigation was initiated after Slack accused Microsoft of anti-competitive behavior, alleging that the company was forcibly installing Teams and making it difficult to remove, thereby distorting market conditions and obscuring the real cost of the software for corporate users.
(Source: The Verge)
