No. of Recommendations: 5
Sidebar here:
https://www.wsj.com/tech/microsoft-hit-with-eu-ant... Microsoft Hit With EU Antitrust Charges Over Teams
Charges put tech giant back in the regulatory spotlight over competition concerns BRUSSELS—The European Union charged Microsoft with antitrust violations related to the company’s bundling of its Teams collaboration tool with Office 365 and Microsoft 365.
The European Commission, the bloc’s antitrust enforcer, said Tuesday it has informed Microsoft of its preliminary view that the company broke antitrust rules by tying Teams to popular productivity offerings that include Microsoft Word and Excel. The commission said Microsoft may have given Teams an advantage by not giving customers a choice about whether they would get access to the software when subscribing to other products.
Changes that Microsoft made last year to the way it distributes Teams didn’t go far enough to address the competition concerns, the commission said. It also flagged concerns about the extent to which rival collaboration tools can integrate with Microsoft’s other products.
“The conduct may have prevented Teams’ rivals from competing, and in turn innovating,” to the detriment of European customers, the commission said. Microsoft President Brad Smith said the company appreciates the additional clarity it received on Tuesday “and will work to find solutions to address the commission’s remaining concerns.” I am not a user of Microsoft products, nor am I in business, so this is pretty much irrelevant (and not entirely understandable) to me. I find it interesting that the EU is doing so much of what US antitrust law is
supposed to do , while our government - no matter which party controls - looks the other way with a big “Meh.”
Later the article notes that if Microsoft does not satisfy the Commission with a sufficient remedy, is
10% of global revenue , which is a prodigious number and surely enough to get MS’s attention. They skated before, they will probably skate again, but this seems, well, BIG.
