Microsoft could have been subjected to a massive tech giant fine for slipping unharmedly through a massive antitrust investigation by the European Commission thanks to its pledge to fire its corporate messaging app team from its productivity suite.
The committee on Friday approved Microsoft’s concessions to address EU competition concerns for companies, including the rest of the office’s productivity suite, which concluded a multi-year investigation sparked by complaints from rival office messaging app Slack in 2020.
Microsoft has committed to offering Microsoft 365 and Office 365 at a low price and no team for the next seven years, and that customers can choose whether they want to pay more to add a collaboration app to their suite.
The committee also agreed to open an API to Microsoft to enable interoperability of key features between suites and third-party messaging and collaboration tools, allowing data to be exported from teams for the next five years.
In the investigation, European authorities accused Microsoft of violating competition rules by bundled together a suite of productivity, abused its dominant position and granting teams excessive benefits. In its preliminary findings, the committee also said the benefits were improved as the team was integrated with other Microsoft 365 apps such as Excel, Outlook, SharePoint, Word, and more.
Microsoft tried to ease these concerns by implementing a partial team lifting in April 2024, but the committee felt that broader changes were needed, and the company later provided a revised plan in May 2025.
This approval is advantageous for both the EU and Microsoft, especially as there was no legal battle. The committee can say it is narrowing down a major compromise from big technology. Now, Microsoft is voluntarily offering both versions of its teamless productivity suite at a 50% lower price compared to versions that bundle apps from around the world.
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Microsoft also avoided punitive measures and major fines. This is because the committee’s penalty for competition rules against violations can reach up to 10% of global revenue per year.
“We appreciate the dialogue with the committee that led to this agreement and aim to implement these new obligations promptly and fully,” Nanna Louise Linde, Microsoft’s Vice President of European Government Affairs, said in an emailed statement.
The committee also said that Slack and Alfaview, another company that complained about the team, had dropped the complaint earlier this year following a market test by the committee.
“Today’s decision binds us to our commitment to ending Microsoft, which has been more than seven years, that could prevent rivals from competing effectively with their teams,” said Teresa Libera, executive vice president for fairness and competition transitions at the European Commission, in a statement.
“So today’s decision will ensure that we begin to compete in this critical market and allow businesses to freely choose the communication and collaboration products that best suit their needs,” Ribera said.
Note: This story has been updated to add comments by Microsoft.
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