The European Commission has formally charged Microsoft with violating EU antitrust laws, alleging the company illegally bundled its Teams communication and collaboration software with its dominant Office 365 and Microsoft 365 productivity suites. The move marks a significant escalation in the regulatory scrutiny of the tech giant and is the first time in over a decade that the EU has brought such charges against the company.
In a Statement of Objections, the Commission outlined its preliminary view that Microsoft has abused its market position and restricted competition. By bundling Teams with its popular enterprise software, regulators argue that Microsoft gave the application an unfair distribution advantage, preventing rivals from competing on merit. This practice, the EU claims, has harmed innovation and limited customer choice in the communication and collaboration software market.
The investigation was initially triggered by a 2020 complaint from Slack, a major competitor to Teams now owned by Salesforce. In an attempt to address these regulatory concerns, Microsoft unbundled Teams from its Microsoft 365 and Office 365 suites in Europe last year and extended this change globally in April 2024. However, the European Commission has deemed these measures insufficient to restore fair competition.
Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s competition chief, stated that the Commission is concerned that Microsoft’s changes are “not enough to restore competition” and that more significant remedies may be required. If found guilty, Microsoft could face a fine of up to 10% of its global annual turnover and be forced to implement more substantial structural changes to how it packages and sells its software. The case signals a renewed, aggressive stance from European regulators against the integrated software ecosystems of Big Tech companies.
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