EU ‘Likely To Accept’ Microsoft Offer On Office, Teams

The European Commission is likely to accept an offer from Microsoft to bring Office and Teams into compliance with antitrust law, staving off a fine, Reuters reported.

The proposal includes better interoperability terms to make it easier for rivals to compete, the news service reported.

The Commission is likely to seek comments from competitors and customers on the proposal and its stance could change, the report said, citing unnamed sources.

Bundling complaints

The Commission has been investigating Microsoft’s bundling of Office and Teams since 2020, when Salesforce-owned business communications platform Slack complained that selling the two suites together gave the Windows maker an unfair advantage.

In 2023 German company Alfaview made a similar complaint.

The same year Microsoft unbundled the two products, selling Office for 2 euros (£1.50) less than if Teams was included, and selling Teams on its own for 5 euros per month.

In February it widened the price differential after competitors said the move was not sufficient.

Microsoft has been fined a total 2.2bn euros in past years for bundling practices, which were also the basis for its landmark US antitrust trial that began in 1998 and found the company guilty of sustaining an illegal monopoly.

Political tensions

Last month Microsoft president Brad Smith launched a charm offensive in Europe, saying the company respects European laws, amidst rising trade tensions between the US and Europe over tariffs.

Some industry-watchers have feared the EU could use competition laws such as the Digital Markets Act (DMA) as a negotiating tool in trade wars.

The Commission last month fined Apple 500m euros and Meta 200m euros for DMA breaches.

Tariff tensions have more recently abated somewhat, with most of the punitive tariffs brought in by the White House now suspended, including tariffs of over 100 percent levied on one another by the US and China.