Microsoft has reached an agreement with European Union regulators to end a years-long antitrust probe into its Teams app. The European Commission confirmed that Microsoft’s commitments to unbundle Teams from its popular Office suite, alongside additional adjustments made after a market test earlier this year, are sufficient to ease competition concerns. The commitments, which will remain legally binding for up to a decade, spare the company from potentially facing a multi-billion-dollar fine.
“We appreciate the dialogue with the Commission that led to this agreement, and we turn now to implementing these new obligations promptly and fully,” said Nanna-Louise Linde, Microsoft’s vice president of European government affairs.
The investigation started when Slack Technologies (now owned by Salesforce) accused Microsoft of unfairly tying Teams to its Office products, such as Word, Excel, and Outlook. Regulators argued this practice may have been ‘abusive’ by limiting fair competition in the collaboration software market.
To resolve the issue, Microsoft offered discounted versions of Office 365 and Microsoft 365 without Teams and pledged to improve interoperability for rival apps, while also allowing easier data transfers to competing platforms.
EU officials hailed the decision as a win for competition. “Today’s decision opens up competition in this crucial market, and ensures that businesses can freely choose the communication and collaboration product that best suits their needs,” said Teresa Ribera, the Commission’s executive vice-president. It is also another big win for tech giants against the EU Commission, following the recent Meta and TikTok case victory.
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