EU calls Microsoft's bundling of Teams 'abusive'

(Sharecast News) - The European Union (EU) accused Microsoft of violating competition regulations on Tuesday, through the "abusive" bundling of its Teams and Office products.

According to CNBC, the accusation stemmed from Microsoft's practice of tying its Teams communication tool to its Office 365 and Microsoft 365 productivity suites, which the EU claims restricts competition.

Despite Microsoft's efforts to address the concerns by unbundling Teams from Microsoft 365 last year, the European Commission reportedly found the measures insufficient.

It said on Tuesday that further changes were necessary to restore fair competition in the market.

The EU's investigation into Microsoft's practices started last July after a complaint from Slack, a competitor owned by Salesforce.

As part of its probe, the EC had now issued a formal Statement of Objections to Microsoft.

If the commission finds that Microsoft indeed breached competition rules, it would be able to prohibit the conduct and impose a fine of up to 10% of the company's global revenue.

CNBC reported that Microsoft had not commented on the EU's statement by Tuesday morning.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.