Technology
Monday, April 1st, 2024 2:58 pm EDT
Key Points
- Microsoft will sell Teams separately from its Office product globally, following the unbundling initiated in Europe to avoid potential EU antitrust penalties.
- The European Commission has been scrutinizing Microsoft’s bundling of Office and Teams since a complaint by Slack, a rival workspace messaging app owned by Salesforce, in 2020.
- Teams, integrated into Office 365 in 2017 and replacing Skype for Business, gained popularity during the pandemic for its video conferencing features. However, rivals argue that bundling gives Microsoft an unfair advantage, leading the company to offer separate sales of Teams and Office in the EU and Switzerland since August 31 last year.
Microsoft announced its decision to globally sell its chat and video app Teams separately from its Office product, a move aimed at addressing antitrust concerns and providing clarity for customers. This decision comes after the European Commission began investigating Microsoft’s bundling of Office and Teams following a complaint by Slack, a competing workspace messaging app owned by Salesforce. Teams, initially introduced to Office 365 in 2017 and later replacing Skype for Business, gained popularity during the pandemic for its video conferencing capabilities. However, rivals argued that bundling these products gave Microsoft an unfair advantage. In response to feedback and to comply with EU regulations, Microsoft started selling Teams and Office separately in the European Economic Area and Switzerland last year. Now, the company extends this unbundling globally to offer customers more flexibility in their purchasing decisions. Microsoft introduced new commercial Microsoft 365 and Office 365 suites excluding Teams for regions outside the EEA and Switzerland, along with a standalone Teams offering for Enterprise customers in those regions. Customers can choose to continue with their current licensing deal or switch to the new offerings starting April 1. Prices for Office without Teams range from $7.75 to $54.75 for new commercial customers, while the standalone Teams offering costs $5.25. However, Microsoft’s unbundling efforts may not prevent EU antitrust charges, with concerns raised by rivals about the level of fees and the interoperability of their messaging services with Office Web Applications. Microsoft, facing potential fines of up to 10% of its global annual turnover if found guilty of antitrust breaches, continues to navigate regulatory scrutiny and competition in the tech industry.
For the full original article on CNBC, please click here: https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/01/microsoft-separates-teams-and-office-globally-amid-antitrust-scrutiny.html
