Microsoft’s unbundling of Teams from its Office suite last month was apparently not enough to satiate the European Commission (EC), as the Financial Times is reporting the commission’s intent to proceed with formal antitrust charges against the tech giant.
Last month, Microsoft released a statement revealing that it was moving forward with a plan to separate Teams and Office worldwide after splitting the items in the European Economic Area and Switzerland last year. The company hoped that unbundling the products would spare it any official charges, as rumblings of an antitrust probe were already well known.
The Financial Times has cited three unnamed sources said to have “knowledge of the move,” who have said that the EC feels that Microsoft did not go far enough with their changes. The report states that official charges could be named within the next few weeks, though it does point out that the charges could still be dropped if Microsoft makes last-minute concessions.
The following was originally published April 3, 2024:
Microsoft has been making changes to its suite of programs at a near nonstop pace as of late. Whether its further integration of AI or combining apps to make things less confusing for users, the company has been giving particular attention to Teams. Now, a ruling from the EU is having global implications for the videoconferencing platform.
The EU has famously adopted an aggressive antitrust stance, passing laws and fining companies that it deems to be skirting the lines of fair competition. The European Commission began taking note of Microsoft’s bundling of teams following a complaint from videoconferencing rival Slack. When notified of the investigation, Microsoft split its Teams application from the rest of its Office suite in Europe last year in order to avoid hefty fines, and it looks like this decision is now going global.
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As first reported by Reuters, Microsoft will be selling Teams separate from Office around the globe. “To ensure clarity for our customers, we are extending the steps we took last year to unbundle Teams from M365 and O365 in the European Economic Area and Switzerland to customers globally,” Microsoft confirmed to Ars Technica. “Doing so also addresses feedback from the European Commission by providing multinational companies more flexibility when they want to standardize their purchasing across geographies.”
Microsoft has published a statement here, which clarifies the changes to Teams across different subscription plans.
