Microsoft to Face EU Antitrust Investigation

Insiders have indicated that Microsoft is potentially under scrutiny for an antitrust investigation by the European Union (EU), as regulatory authorities in the EU escalate their examination triggered by the case involving the instant messaging application Slack. In the previous year, Slack, a office information software under Salesforce, filed a complaint with the EU Commission, alleging Microsoft's unfair integration of Teams into its Office products – Teams being Microsoft's office chat and video software.

Microsoft introduced Teams in 2017, with the strategic goal of gaining a foothold in the rapidly expanding and lucrative office collaboration market. In response, Slack is urging EU competition enforcement agencies to mandate Microsoft to separate Teams from its Office products and sell it independently at a fair commercial price.

Insiders suggest that the EU Commission issued a questionnaire in October of the preceding year, followed by another batch of questionnaires last month, indicating preparations for a formal investigation by EU competition enforcement agencies. Notably, the EU is conducting a more detailed examination of Microsoft products, focusing on issues related to interoperability and bundling.

It is noteworthy that Microsoft has incurred fines totaling €22 billion over the past decade for various practices related to bundled sales and other infractions.