Microsoft Offers To Charge For Teams In EU To Appease Watchdog

According to two sources, Microsoft has proposed varying prices for its Office product with and without the Teams app in order to prevent a potential investigation and penalty by the EU for antitrust violations.

Microsoft has been working to resolve concerns raised by the EU competition enforcer since last year, following a complaint by the workspace messaging app Slack to the European Commission, according to sources familiar with the matter who spoke to Reuters in December.

In 2020, Slack accused Microsoft of integrating its workplace chat and video app Teams into its Office product unfairly. Teams was launched by the US tech giant in 2017 as a strategy to capture the rapidly expanding and profitable workplace collaboration market.

Read more: Microsoft Offers EU Watchdog Changes To Its Cloud Practices

The European Commission reported on Thursday that there were additional complainants, aside from Slack, reported Reuters. 

“We have received several complaints regarding Microsoft, including by Slack, regarding Microsoft’s conduct in relation to its Teams product. As you know the assessment is ongoing so we cannot comment further,” a spokesperson said.

Microsoft stated that they are working collaboratively with the Commission and are willing to find practical solutions that address any concerns and benefit their customers.

The EU antitrust watchdog is gathering input from Microsoft competitors regarding their proposal, according to sources.

The European Commission imposed a fine of 2.2 billion euros ($2.4 billion) on Microsoft in the past decade for violating EU competition regulations, such as bundling multiple products together.