Source: AFP
Microsoft broke EU antitrust rules by bundling its Teams communications app with its popular Office suite, Brussels said on Tuesday, as the US tech giant vowed to do whatever it takes to tackle competition concerns.
The charge sheet comes after the European Commission, the EU’s antitrust regulator, launched an investigation last year stemming from a 2020 complaint by Slack.
The Commission informed Microsoft of its “preliminary view” that it had “breached EU antitrust rules” by bundling Teams with its cloud-based Office 365 and Microsoft 365 suites, which include Word, Excel and Powerpoint programs.
Even before the accusations, Microsoft tried to assuage EU concerns by disconnecting teams in Europe before expanding the policy worldwide in April.
The EU also had concerns that Microsoft might have limited interoperability between Teams competitors and its own offerings, though the company in September 2023 introduced “improvements” to make it easier for rivals.
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But the committee said Microsoft’s changes did not go far enough.
“The Commission preliminarily finds that these changes are insufficient to address its concerns and that more changes in Microsoft’s conduct are needed to restore competition,” it said in a statement.
EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said “Microsoft now has an opportunity to respond to our concerns”.
The company will be able to offer undertakings to avoid a large fine, and chairman Brad Smith has said Microsoft would be willing to take further action.
“Having unbundled the Groups and taken initial steps toward interoperability, we appreciate the additional clarity provided today and will work to find solutions to address the committee’s remaining concerns,” Smith said in a statement.
Slack had filed its complaint as its market share declined and has since been bought by Salesforce.
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There is no deadline for the formal investigation to be completed.
In the event that the outcome of the investigation is against Microsoft, it may face a heavy fine or other ordered remedies.
Microsoft has come under greater European scrutiny in recent months.
EU regulators are looking into Microsoft’s partnership with ChatGPT developer OpenAI to determine whether it is a covert merger.
The commission also received a separate complaint in late 2022 from the Amazon-backed cloud trade group CISPE against Microsoft over its cloud licensing practices.
The two sides are currently seeking to resolve the issue through talks.
Source: AFP