The European Commission on Friday said it has accepted commitments from Microsoft to resolve competition concerns about the bundling of its Teams collaboration tool with Office 365 and Microsoft 365 business suites.
Under the commitments, Microsoft will now offer non-Teams versions of Office 365 and Microsoft 365 at reduced prices. The company has also agreed to enable greater data portability and ensure interoperability with rival products, allowing customers more flexibility in choosing communication and productivity platforms.
The case dates back to July 2023, when the Commission launched formal proceedings to investigate whether Microsoft was abusing its dominant position by tying Teams to its widely used business applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. The move was prompted by complaints from competing collaboration platforms that argued Microsoft’s bundling practice restricted competition in the enterprise communications market.
With Friday’s announcement, the Commission said the commitments address its concerns over unfair tying practices, adding that the measures are designed to preserve competition and give enterprise customers genuine choice in how they access productivity and communication tools.
The commitments are now legally binding on Microsoft, marking the closure of the Commission’s antitrust probe into the matter.
