Microsoft offers charging for Teams to address EU antitrust concerns

(This May 4 story has been updated to state that only the Slack complaint refers to the Microsoft Teams product, not other complaints, in paragraph 5)

Author: Foo Yun Chee

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Microsoft has offered to charge different prices for its Office product with and without Teams to head off a possible EU antitrust investigation and fine, two people familiar with the matter said.

Microsoft has been trying to allay EU enforcement concerns since last year, after Salesforce’s Slack workspace messaging app filed a complaint with the European Commission, other people familiar with the matter told Reuters in December.

In 2020, Slack accused Microsoft of unfairly integrating the workplace chat and video app Teams with its Office product. The US tech giant introduced Teams in 2017, targeting the rapidly growing and lucrative workplace collaboration market.

The European Commission said on Thursday that other complainants besides Slack had filed complaints.

“We have received several complaints about Microsoft, including from Slack, regarding Microsoft’s conduct regarding its Teams product. “As you know, the assessment is ongoing, so we cannot comment further,” the spokesman said.

Microsoft said it continues to cooperate with the Commission and is “open to pragmatic solutions that address its concerns and serves customers well.”

Salesforce declined to comment.

As they claim, the EU antitrust regulator expects Microsoft’s competitors to provide opinions on its proposal.

Over the past decade, the European Commission fined Microsoft €2.2 billion ($2.4 billion) for practices violating EU competition rules, including bundling or combining two or more products.

($1 = 0.9092 euros)

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Jan Harvey and Barbara Lewis)