EU finds Microsoft violated antitrust laws by bundling Teams services

It’s been almost a year since the European Commission opened an investigation into Microsoft and its initial findings have finally been released. The EU’s executive arm has announced its “view” that the tech giant breached antitrust rules by bundling Microsoft Teams with its Office 365 and Microsoft 365 business suites. In October last year, Microsoft separated Teams for users in the EU and Switzerland, but the European Commission’s Statement of Objections deemed that “insufficient.”

In a statement, the European Commission detailed its concerns “that Microsoft may have given Teams a distribution advantage by not giving customers a choice as to whether they want to access Teams as part of a subscription to its SaaS productivity applications. This advantage may have been further exacerbated by interoperability limitations between Teams competitors and Microsoft’s offerings. This behavior may have prevented Teams’ rivals from competing and innovating to the detriment of customers in the European Economic Area.

Microsoft faces a fine of 10 percent of its annual global turnover if the EU confirms its initial findings, so it’s no wonder the company is being cordial. “Following the unbundling of Teams and the initial steps we’ve taken on interoperability, we appreciate the additional clarity provided today and will work to find solutions that address the Commission’s remaining concerns,” said Brad Smith, Microsoft’s vice president and president, in a statement shared with Engadget.

The ordeal began in 2020, when Slack — now owned by Salesforce — filed an antitrust complaint against Microsoft, alleging that it broke EU competition rules by bundling Teams with its suites. In April 2023, Microsoft declared its intention to offer Teams on its own (albeit without a clear plan), but the European Commission formally launched an investigation anyway just three months later. Following the October split, Microsoft announced in April that Teams would be available separately from Microsoft 365 and Office 365 to customers worldwide – and existing users would also be able to switch plans.

In the Statement of Objections, the European Commission also mentions a complaint from Alfaview, another video conferencing software, which filed a similar complaint with Slack in July 2023 and notes that an investigation has been initiated in connection with it.