EU regulators let Microsoft off the hook after Teams unbundling pledge

The EU has signed off on Microsoft's concessions over Teams bundling, letting Redmond dodge a monster antitrust fine in a deal that will barely rock the boat for anyone.

Brussels announced on Friday that it has accepted Microsoft's concessions, formally ending a five-year investigation triggered by a 2020 complaint from Slack, now owned by Salesforce. Slack had accused Redmond of using its dominance in Office to crush rivals by quietly bolting Teams onto Microsoft 365 at no extra cost, making it the default collaboration tool for millions of businesses overnight. 

David Schellhase moaned to the EC that Microsoft was "reverting to past behavior," adding that Redmond "created a weak, copycat product and tied it to their dominant Office product, force installing it and blocking its removal." The Commission took the complaint seriously, opening an antitrust probe in 2023 and signalling that a fine could be on the horizon ...