Microsoft avoids European fine for abuse of power via Teams
BRUSSELS – Competitors like Slack and alfaview complained that they were sidelined because Teams was automatically included in Microsoft’s popular software packages Office 365 and Microsoft 365. Recently, the American software company promised to sell those packages without the meeting tool as well. The European Commission finds that sufficient.
The European Commission ruled last year that Microsoft had abused its dominant position in the office software market since April 2019 by selling Teams as standard with other software. This gave Teams an unfair competitive advantage over similar cloud software, the regulator ruled.
Microsoft must now sell versions of Office 365 and Microsoft 365 without Teams. These must be clearly cheaper than packages with the meeting software. Customers may not receive any additional discount on versions with Teams. These obligations apply for the next seven years. The European Commission reports that Microsoft has decided to work with the same price differences outside the EU as well.
The company must also provide customers in the European Union with sufficient options to switch to Office 365 and Microsoft 365 without Teams. The software company must also ensure that competitors’ products work well with certain Microsoft services.
“Today’s decision opens this important market to competitors and guarantees that companies can freely choose which communication and collaboration product suits them best,” said EU Commissioner Teresa Ribera (Competition).
(September 12, 2025)
