27 July 2023

EU launches investigation into Microsoft’s bundling of Office and Teams

27 July 2023

The European Union will investigate Microsoft over its bundling of Office and Teams.

Thursday’s announcement comes amid fears the packaging of productivity software Office with messaging and videoconferencing app Teams gives the tech giant an unfair edge over competitors.

The 27-nation bloc’s top competition enforcer, the European Commission, said it will carry out the probe “as a matter of priority”.

It stems from a complaint filed in 2020 by Slack Technologies, which makes workplace messaging software.

Slack, owned by business software maker Salesforce, accused Microsoft of abusing its market dominance to eliminate competition – in violation of EU laws – by illegally combining Teams and Office.

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