Report: EU Commission is Readying Antitrust Charges Against Microsoft Following Teams Investigation

The European Commission is reportedly not impressed with Microsoft’s recent decision to unbundle Teams from its Microsoft 365/Office 365 globally after first doing so in Europe in October. The Commission, which opened an antitrust investigation into Microsoft’s Teams/Office 365 bundling practices back in July 2023, is now getting ready to press charges against the company, according to a report from the Financial Times citing three people familiar with the situation.

The EU’s antitrust case against Microsoft takes its origin from a formal complaint from competitor Slack in the EU. Back in 2020, the company accused Microsoft of abusing its dominant position by tying Teams to its Office suite. At the time, David Schellhase, General Counsel at Slack also described Teams as a “weak, copycat product.” Microsoft Teams crossed 320 million monthly active users last fall.

The report says that despite Microsoft agreeing to decouple Teams from its Office 365 commercial plans globally to “ensure clarity,” the Commission still believes that the Redmond giant didn’t do enough to ensure fair competition with other workforce collaboration apps. Microsoft’s rivals are said to be meeting with the Commission this week to discuss the case, and the Financial Times reported that the EU antitrust regulator could issue antitrust charges in the next few weeks.

“Rivals are concerned that Microsoft will make Teams run more compatibly than rival apps with its own software,” the report says. “Another concern is the lack of data portability, which makes it difficult for existing Teams users to switch to alternatives.”

While both Microsoft and the EU Commission declined to comment on the report, the company pointed the Financial Times to an earlier statement saying that the company would “continue to engage with the commission, listen to concerns in the marketplace, and remain open to exploring pragmatic solutions that benefit both customers and developers in Europe”.

There’s still a possibility that Microsoft could make more concessions and convince the Commission to drop its charges. Otherwise, the tech giant could face fines of up to 10% of its global annual turnover.