Company accepted changes in the office package and price reduction to end unfair competition
The European Commission, the European Union’s executive body, announced on Thursday (11.Set.2025) that accepted the terms presented by Microsoft to reestablish fair competition in the market of collaboration and corporate communication platforms. The measures have legal strength under the antitrust rule of the block.
The investigation, opened in 2023, concluded that the company founded by Bill Gates restricted competition by including Teams in Office 365 and Microsoft 365 packages, a practice considered a form of “to tie” products. This, according to investigators, limited the cloud communication and collaboration software market.
Second, Microsoft’s conduct gave Teams an improper advantage over competitors by integrating messages, calls and meetings with applications such as Word, Excel and Outlook.
Among the commitments made in the agreement, Microsoft will have to:
- Sell versions Microsoft 365 and Office 365 without Teams at reduced prices;
- Ensure greater interoperabilityability of different systems to work together, between Teams and competing applications;
- Allow data migration Teams for services from other companies;
- Clearon websites and materials, the versions of the packages without Teams.
In addition, the company agreed to expand the price difference between versions with and without Teams. In some cases, the reduction for packages without the platform will be up to 50%.
The terms will be initially valid for seven years, with implementation monitored by an independent administrator appointed by the European Commission, who may also act as an arbitrator in disputes.
The case originated in a complaint filed in 2020 by Slack Technologiesthen bought by Salesforcewhich accused Microsoft of abuse of a dominant position in the corporate software sector.
With the decision, the European Commission considered sufficient measures to remove competitive concerns and ended the antitrust process without fine.
