BRUSSELS – The European Union has launched an antitrust investigation into Microsoft over concerns that the company’s bundling of its Teams messaging and videoconferencing app with its Office productivity software is giving it an unfair advantage over competitors. The investigation comes in response to a complaint filed by Slack Technologies, a popular workplace messaging software owned by Salesforce. Slack alleges that Microsoft is using its market dominance to stifle competition by illegally combining Teams with its Office suite, which includes Word, Excel, and Outlook.
The European Commission, the EU’s top competition enforcer, will conduct an in-depth investigation “as a matter of priority” to determine whether Microsoft’s actions violate EU competition rules. Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s antitrust commissioner, emphasized the need to maintain competitive markets for remote communication and collaboration tools like Teams.
Microsoft responded to the investigation, stating that it respects the European Commission’s work on the case and will cooperate with the investigation to find solutions addressing its concerns.
Just last week, the German video conferencing company alfaview also filed a complaint against Microsoft Teams, arguing that bundling gives the U.S. tech giant an unfair advantage that competitors like alfaview cannot match in terms of performance.
While the EU has been actively scrutinizing Big Tech companies, Microsoft has been successful in previous deals under EU review. The company received approval for its plan to acquire video game maker Activision Blizzard for $69 billion, with the condition of licensing popular Activision titles for cloud gaming platforms. Additionally, Microsoft obtained EU clearance for acquisitions of video game company Zenimax and speech recognition company Nuance. The outcome of the current investigation remains uncertain as it progresses.