The Japan Times - Microsoft avoids EU antitrust fine with Teams commitments

The European Commission said the redress proposed by Microsoft answered the concerns at the heart of an antitrust probe launched in 2023, ending practices that prevented rivals from competing "effectively".

"Today's decision therefore opens up competition in this crucial market, and ensures that businesses can freely choose the communication and collaboration product that best suits their needs," said EU competition chief Teresa Ribera.

The decision follows preliminary findings in a probe triggered by a 2020 complaint from Slack, a Teams competitor.

The commission -- the EU's antitrust regulator -- had concluded that Microsoft abused its dominant position by bundling Teams with other products.

A first Microsoft move to offer some Office 365 and Microsoft 365 suites, which also include Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, without Teams was deemed insufficient by Brussels.

Microsoft then put forward more changes in May, which the commission has now accepted.

"We appreciate the dialogue with the Commission that led to this agreement, and we turn now to implementing these new obligations promptly and fully," said the firm's vice president for European government affair Nanna-Louise Linde.

The firm pledged to sell versions of its Office 365 and Microsoft 365 suites without Teams and at a lower price than the version including the conferencing app, according to the commission.

It will also allow customers with long-term licences to switch to packages without Teams, and to transfer their data for use in rival applications.

Finally, it promised to improve the interoperability of rival applications with other Microsoft products.

- Conciliatory approach -

The commitments have now become legally binding for at least seven years, the commission said.

Were Microsoft not to honour them it may yet face a fine of up to 10 percent of its worldwide annual turnover.

The case is one of a raft that the commission, the EU's antitrust and digital rules enforcer, has launched against US big tech in recent years.

Last week, the commission slapped a nearly three-billion-euro fine on Google for favouring its own advertising services.

The Google fine drew a furious rebuke from US President Donald Trump, who has railed against the bloc's tighter tech regulation enforcement.

But unlike fellow US giants Meta or Apple -- which have bridled at the EU's regulation efforts -- Microsoft has in recent years adopted a largely conciliatory approach.

H.Nakamura--JT