The European Commission has accepted Microsoft concessions following an antitrust probe over its bundling of Teams with Microsoft 365 and Office 365 subscriptions.
The decision by EU lawmakers means Microsoft will avoid a costly fine and brings to a close a long-running legal dispute after Slack lodged a complaint in 2020.
According to Slack, Microsoft was actively harming competition by bundling its Teams app with Office 365 and Microsoft 365 subscriptions. EU Lawmakers agreed with the claims, and formally charged the tech giant over antitrust violations.
As part of the agreement between Microsoft and the EU, the tech giant has agreed to make versions of its productivity solutions suites available without Teams and at a reduced price.
“Microsoft committed not to offer discount rates on Teams or on suites with Teams higher than those offered on suites without Teams,” the European Commission said in a statement.
Customers with long-term licenses will also be allowed to switch to providers without Teams, while the company has guaranteed “effective interoperability” between its own solutions and those of competitors.
“The commitments address the Commission's concerns related to the tying of Microsoft Teams to the company's popular productivity applications Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, included in its Office 365 and Microsoft 365 suites for business customers,” the EC added.
Microsoft concessions are a “meaningful step forward”
In a statement responding to the announcement, Sabastian Niles, president & chief legal officer at Salesforce, suggested the decision validates the initial complaint from Slack.
“The European Commission’s announcement of a binding and enforceable settlement to resolve Slack's complaint sends a clear message: Microsoft’s anticompetitive tying of Teams has harmed businesses, denied customers fair choice, and resulted in many years of lost competition,” he said.
Niles also described settlement as a “meaningful step forward” and urged lawmakers to hold the tech giant to its commitments.
“We applaud the Commission’s efforts to hold Microsoft accountable,” he said. “We look forward to the Commission’s rigorous monitoring and enforcement of the commitments to ensure Microsoft fully complies with its obligations.
EU lawmakers will enforce the terms of the settlement for seven years, while specific aspects such as interoperability and portability requirements will be enforced for a total of 10 years.
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