Microsoft Avoids EU Fine By Answering Teams Antitrust Concerns

Brussels, Belgium: The EU said Friday it had accepted commitments from Microsoft to more clearly separate its Teams communications app from its Office products in order to avoid a hefty antitrust fine.

The European Commission said the redress proposed by the US tech giant addressed the concerns at the heart of an antitrust probe launched in 2023, ending practices that prevented rivals from competing "effectively".

"Today's decision therefore opens up competition in this crucial market, and ensures that businesses can freely choose the communication and collaboration product that best suits their needs," said EU competition chief Teresa Ribera.

The decision follows preliminary findings in a probe triggered by a 2020 complaint from Slack, a Teams competitor.

The commission -- the EU's antitrust regulator -- had concluded that Microsoft abused its dominant position by bundling Teams with other products.

A first Microsoft move to offer some Office 365 and Microsoft 365 suites, which also include Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, without Teams was deemed insufficient by Brussels.

Microsoft then put forward more changes in May, which the commission has now accepted.

The firm pledged to sell versions of its Office 365 and Microsoft 365 suites without Teams and at a lower price than the version including the conferencing app, according to the commission.

It will also allow customers with long-term licences to switch to packages without Teams, and to transfer their data for use in rival applications.

Finally, it promised to improve the interoperability of rival applications with other Microsoft products.

The commitments have now become legally binding for at least seven years, the commission said.

Were Microsoft not to honour them it may face a fine of up to 10 percent of its worldwide annual turnover.

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