Microsoft avoids EU fine thanks to Teams concessions

"Microsoft has avoided an EU fine for bundling Teams with Office. The European Commission has agreed to the suggestion that the tech giant will offer Office versions without Teams at reduced prices. The current commitments prevent a penalty that could have amounted to 10 percent of annual turnover. Most of the obligations to avoid the fine will apply for seven years, but interoperability and data portability must be guaranteed for the next ten years."

"The European Commission has accepted Microsoft's commitments to address competition concerns surrounding Teams. The concerns were specifically raised by Slack in July 2020. The company, which became part of Salesforce a year later, claimed that Microsoft Teams was unfairly promoted by linking it to Office 365 and Microsoft 365 for business customers. The agreements mean that Microsoft must offer Office suites without Teams at reduced prices."

The European Commission accepted Microsoft’s commitments to address competition concerns about bundling Teams with Office, following a complaint from Slack in July 2020. Microsoft will offer Office suites without Teams at reduced prices, and customers with long-term licenses can switch to suites without Teams. The commitments prevent a potential fine of up to 10 percent of annual turnover. Most obligations will apply for seven years, while interoperability and data portability requirements will last ten years. Microsoft had already decoupled Teams from Office in Europe in 2023 and launched Teams as a separate app worldwide last year. The agreements require better interoperability between competing communication tools and certain Microsoft products.

Read at Techzine Global