BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Microsoft is confronting a substantial antitrust penalty following allegations from the European Commission. The accusations involve linking Teams with Office, providing an unfair edge over competitors like Slack. The EU antitrust charge accuses Microsoft of anti-competitive behavior by integrating Teams into its Office suite, potentially harming market competition.
In 2020, a complaint from Slack, owned by Salesforce, triggered the EU competition watchdog’s latest action against Microsoft.
Reuters first reported in April that the EU was preparing the charges.
The European Commission, acting as the EU competition watchdog, highlighted that Teams received a distribution advantage. Additionally, it pointed out limitations hindering interaction between Teams’ competitors and Microsoft’s offerings.
“Preserving competition for remote communication and collaboration tools is essential as it also fosters innovation on these markets,” EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.
The U.S. tech giant paid 2.2 billion euros ($2.4 billion) in EU antitrust fines twenty years ago for bundling products and other violations. Now, it faces the risk of a fine up to 10% of its global annual turnover for the latest alleged antitrust breaches.
The Commission found Microsoft’s actions inadequate to address its concerns, requiring further changes to restore competition.
Microsoft’s legal team is poised to mount a robust defense against the EU antitrust charge Given its substantial market presence in software and cloud services, this case holds significant implications for competition policies.
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