In an effort to prevent another antitrust investigation by the European Union (EU), Microsoft has reportedly agreed to stop bundling its Teams remote collaboration software with its Office productivity suite. This move comes after the rival platform, Slack, filed a complaint accusing the company’s practice of bundling the two services together as anti-competitive.
According to sources familiar with the matter, Microsoft will eventually start offering users the choice to purchase Office with or without Teams installed. However, the mechanism for doing so is still unclear, and negotiations are ongoing.
“We are mindful of our responsibilities in the EU as a major technology company. We continue to engage cooperatively with the commission in its investigation and are open to pragmatic solutions that address its concerns and serve customers well,” says Microsoft.
Nonetheless, it also remains uncertain whether Microsoft’s offer to stop bundling Teams will satisfy the commission, given that Slack has requested officials to require Microsoft to sell Teams separately from its Office suite.
Microsoft’s History of antitrust allegations
This is not the first regulatory issue for the company. Back in 2009, Microsoft settled with the European Commission to start offering users the choice of browsers after being accused of using its dominant position to promote its Internet Explorer browser by bundling it with Windows. However, in 2013, the commission fined Microsoft €561 million for not adhering to its promise.
In recent times, Microsoft’s push towards acquiring Activision Blizzard for $69 billion has come under a lot of scrutiny from regulatory bodies, which fear that it would give Microsoft a dominant position in the gaming industry. However, the company’s ten-year deal to provide Call of Duty games on Nintendo consoles attempted to alleviate some of these concerns. An attempt which ultimately failed with the CMA’s report on April 26 that it’s blocking the deal.
2023-04-27 15:09:43