The European Union has charged Microsoft with antitrust violations over the bundling of its Teams collaboration tool with Office 365 and Microsoft 365.
This marks the first such charges against Microsoft in the EU in 15 years, following previous cases related to the bundling of Windows Media Player and Internet Explorer.
According to a statement from the European Commission, they have informed Microsoft of their preliminary view that the company breached EU antitrust rules by integrating Teams with its Office 365 and Microsoft 365 business suites.
The Commission has issued a statement of objections, outlining their concerns regarding the bundling of Teams.
Despite Microsoft’s efforts to address these concerns by unbundling Teams from Office in Europe in 2023 and subsequently making it a separate app globally, these measures have not been sufficient to prevent the charges.
Head of Competition Policy in Europe, Margrethe Vestager, expressed concerns that Microsoft’s actions might be giving Teams an unfair advantage over competitors by tying it to their popular productivity suites.
She stated, “We are concerned that Microsoft may be giving its own communication product Teams an undue advantage over competitors, by tying it to its popular productivity suites for businesses. If confirmed, Microsoft’s conduct would be illegal under our competition rules. Microsoft now has the opportunity to reply to our concerns.”
In response, Microsoft has indicated its willingness to cooperate with the EU to resolve these issues.
Microsoft president, Brad Smith, said, “Having unbundled Teams and taken initial interoperability steps, we appreciate the additional clarity provided today and will work to find solutions to address the Commission’s remaining concerns.”
The EU’s investigation into Microsoft began in 2023, following a complaint by Slack in July 2020. Slack’s complaint accused Microsoft of “illegally tying” Teams to Office, “force installing it for millions, blocking its removal, and hiding the true cost to enterprise customers.”
If found guilty, Microsoft could face a fine of up to 10 percent of its annual global revenue. The European Commission may also enforce remedies requiring Microsoft to alter its software products, as seen in past cases. In 2004, the Commission mandated Microsoft to offer a version of Windows without Media Player, resulting in the Windows XP N version available only in the EU.
In 2009, Microsoft had to implement a browser ballot box in Windows to give users a choice of web browsers, following years of bundling Internet Explorer with Windows.
Microsoft was subsequently fined $730 million in 2013 for not including the browser ballot in Windows 7 SP1.
