Microsoft should take further steps to address EU concerns over Teams, says Smith – TradingView News

Microsoft MSFT expects to take additional steps to end an EU antitrust investigation into the Teams chat and video app that is part of its Office product, even as EU-level charges appear likely in the case, its CEO Brad Smith said on Tuesday .

The European Commission launched an investigation last year into Microsoft’s linking of Office and Teams following a 2020 complaint from Salesforce CRM Slack, a competing workspace messaging app.

In April, Microsoft said it would sell its Teams chat and video app globally separately from its Office product, months after separating the two products in Europe to avoid possible EU antitrust fines.

Microsoft is ready to do more, Smith said.

“I expect we will take additional steps,” he told reporters after an earlier meeting in Brussels with the head of the EU antitrust office, Margrethe Vestager.

“We’ve done a lot of work on Teams, but our work isn’t done yet. “Microsoft is committed to finding solutions to regulators’ concerns,” Smith said.

He said the company wouldn’t be surprised to receive a letter of objections or charge sheet from the EU’s competition law enforcer, but it wouldn’t be an irreversible step towards resolving the problem.