EU charges Microsoft over Teams bundling

Microsoft has indicated its willingness to collaborate with EU regulators to find solutions.
Microsoft is integrating Anthropic’s Claude models into Office 365, blending them with OpenAI’s to cut costs, reduce risks and improve performance across apps like Word and Excel.

EU antitrust regulators have accused Microsoft of illegally bundling its Teams chat and video app with its Office product suite, claiming the company’s recent efforts to separate the two were insufficient. The European Commission stated that Microsoft breached antitrust rules by tying Teams to its popular Office 365 and Microsoft 365 suites, which stifled competition.

The regulatory action follows a 2020 complaint by Slack, a rival workspace messaging app owned by Salesforce. Microsoft introduced Teams to Office 365 in 2017 at no extra cost, replacing Skype for Business, and its use surged during the pandemic due to its video conferencing capabilities.

The European Commission has preliminarily determined that Microsoft’s changes don’t adequately address the competition concerns and that more actions are needed. Microsoft has expressed willingness to work with the EU regulators to find acceptable solutions.