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Not a Team Player? Microsoft Risks EU Antitrust Fine

Elizabeth Greenberg

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microsoft teams
Microsoft did not do enough to assuage the EU’s competition watchdog antitrust concerns.

Microsoft is facing the heat for some anti-competition practices in the EU, as the European Commission threatens an antitrust fine for bundling Teams to its office product.

The initial complaint of bundling Teams, the chat and video app, with Microsoft’s other office products was brought up by Slack, a rival in the workplace messaging app market. Slack said the bundle gave Microsoft Teams an unfair advantage in the marketplace, prompting an investigation by the EU.

The EU has been preparing charges since April, and now Microsoft risks a fine which could be as much as 10% of its annual global turnover.

The competition watchdog found that bundling teams with other Office offerings gave the app a distribution advantage over others. Further, limitations in Microsoft’s interoperability with competitors put these rivals at a greater disadvantage.

In April, Microsoft did ‘unbundle’ Teams from Microsoft Office in an attempt to settle the antitrust claims, and also made some efforts to increase its interoperability.

The EU Commission, however, says that Microsoft did not go far enough in its efforts to ensure fair market competition, and is telling the tech giant to sell Office without Teams for a lower price.


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Still, Slack and other rivals are calling for increased interoperability with Microsoft products.

“Preserving competition for remote communication and collaboration tools is essential as it also fosters innovation on these markets,” Margrethe Vestager, the EU antitrust chief, said in a statement.

Microsoft seems willing to solve the issue, with the company’s president, Brad Smith, saying “we appreciate the additional clarity provided today and will work to find solutions to address the Commission’s remaining concerns.”

Elizabeth Greenberg

Staff Writer

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