Microsoft announced today that the company will spin off the chat and video application Teams from Office products, making it easier for competitors’ products to work with Microsoft software, thereby avoiding possible EU antitrust fine.
Microsoft will be the first to make the change in the European Economic Area and Switzerland, and starting October 1, businesses will be able to buy Teams as their own standalone service for 5 euros per month or 60 euros per year separate from Microsoft 365 and Office 365.
A month ago, the European Commission launched an investigation into Microsoft’s bundling of Office and Teams in response to complaints filed by Salesforce’s workspace messaging app Slack.
Back in 2020, the Salesforce-owned Slack app filed complaints that Microsoft was abusing its market dominance by eliminating competition from Microsoft Teams by bundling it with its popular Office software.
“The Commission is concerned that Microsoft may be abusing and asserting its market position in productivity software and restricting competition in communication and collaboration products in the European Economic Area,” the European Commission said in a statement.
According to a previous report, several people familiar with the matter revealed that the European Union will launch a formal antitrust investigation into the Microsoft Office suite bundled with the Teams application. Four people familiar with the matter said that it turns out that although Microsoft has made some Concession, but now it seems insufficient. Two of the people added that Microsoft could face formal EU charges as early as this fall once the investigation begins.
