EU investigates Microsoft over concerns bundling Teams with Office eliminates competition

BRUSSELS –

The European Union stated Thursday that it has opened an antitrust investigation into Microsoft over issues that bundling its Teams messaging and videoconferencing app with its Office productiveness software program offers it an unfair edge over rivals.

The European Commission, the 27-nation bloc’s prime competitors enforcer, stated it might perform its in-depth investigation “as a matter of priority.”

The investigation stems from a grievance filed in 2020 by Slack Technologies, which makes well-liked office messaging software program.

Slack, owned by business software program maker Salesforce, alleged that Microsoft was abusing its market dominance to remove competitors — in violation of EU legal guidelines — by illegally combining Teams with its Office suite, which incorporates Word, Excel and Outlook.

“Remote communication and collaboration tools like Teams have become indispensable for many businesses in Europe. We must therefore ensure that the markets for these products remain competitive,” stated Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s antitrust commissioner.

“This is why we are investigating whether Microsoft’s tying of its productivity suites with Teams may be in breach of EU competition rules,” she added.

Microsoft stated in an announcement that it revered “the European Commission’s work on this case.” It added that it “will continue to cooperate with the commission and remain committed to finding solutions that will address its concerns.”

Only final week, the German alfaview video conferencing firm added its personal grievance over Microsoft Teams, arguing that bundling offers the U.S. tech large an unmatched aggressive benefit “that is not justified by performance and that competitors like alfaview cannot match.”

The fee says opening the investigation by no means determines the end result.

Europe has led the best way in ratcheting up scrutiny of Big Tech corporations over worries that they’ve change into too dominant. When Brussels has regarded into Microsoft’s latest offers, nonetheless, the corporate has prevailed.

The EU accredited Microsoft’s plan to purchase online game maker Activision Blizzard for US$69 billion, after the corporate supplied to robotically license well-liked Activision titles like “Call of Duty” for cloud gaming platforms.

Microsoft additionally has gained EU clearance to purchase online game firm Zenimax and speech recognition firm Nuance.

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AP Business Writer Kelvin Chan contributed from London.