EU Launches Antitrust Probe into Microsoft’s Teams App Bundling

The European Union (EU) has initiated an antitrust investigation into Microsoft’s bundling of its Teams video and chat app with some of its other products, The Guardian is reporting.

The investigation focuses on Microsoft’s practice of bundling Teams with its Office 365 and Microsoft 365 packages, which the EU believes might constitute anticompetitive behavior.

The investigation was sparked by a complaint filed in 2020 by a company offering a rival communications system.

Despite Microsoft’s attempts to address the complaint, the European regulator remained unsatisfied, leading to the official inquiry. This marks the EU’s first antitrust inquiry into Microsoft in over a decade.

Margrethe Vestager, the commissioner for competition, expressed the importance of ensuring competitive markets for remote communication and collaboration tools like Teams.

The EU wants companies to have the freedom to choose products that best suit their needs, without facing unfair restrictions.

Teams witnessed a surge in popularity during the pandemic, as remote working became widespread across Europe due to lockdowns and social distancing measures.

Launched in 2017, Teams initially garnered 2 million users in its first year and reached 20 million by 2019. However, the pandemic accelerated its adoption, and by the end of 2022, the app boasted an impressive user base of 270 million.

Slack Technologies filed its initial complaint against Microsoft on July 14, 2020, alleging that Teams had been “illegally tied” to Microsoft’s dominant productivity suites.

Subsequently, a Germany-based videoconferencing software provider, Alfaview, lodged a similar complaint with the EU executive last week.

Microsoft stated its commitment to cooperating with the commission throughout the investigation and finding solutions to address the concerns raised.