The European Union has commenced an antitrust investigation into Microsoft. The probe is centered around concerns that Microsoft’s bundling of its Teams messaging and videoconferencing app with its Office productivity software could be giving the company an unfair advantage over its competitors.
The investigation was launched by the European Commission, which serves as the competition enforcer for the 27-nation bloc. The Commission has expressed its commitment to conducting a thorough and urgent examination of the matter.
The origins of the investigation trace back to a complaint lodged by Slack Technologies in 2020. Slack, a well-known workplace messaging software owned by Salesforce, accused Microsoft of leveraging its dominant market position to stifle competition. According to Slack, Microsoft’s bundling of Teams with its Office suite, comprising popular applications like Word, Excel, and Outlook, violates EU laws.
Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s antitrust commissioner, emphasized the significance of remote communication and collaboration tools like Teams in the European business landscape. She stressed the need to maintain competitive markets for such products and expressed concern over potential breaches of EU competition rules through Microsoft’s bundling practices.
In response to the investigation, Microsoft issued a statement expressing respect for the European Commission’s work on the case. The company committed to cooperating with the commission and seeking solutions to address their concerns.
Recently, alfaview, a German video conferencing company, also raised objections to Microsoft Teams’ bundling strategy. They argued that this bundling gives Microsoft an unfair competitive advantage, which cannot be justified by performance and hinders competitors like alfaview.
The investigation is in its early stages, and its outcome is yet to be determined. The European Union has been actively scrutinizing major tech companies, aiming to address concerns over their dominance in the market. While some of Microsoft’s previous deals were approved by the EU, this particular investigation poses a new challenge for the tech giant’s bundling practices.
