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Investing.com -- Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) has proposed a larger price difference between its Office software bundled with the chat and video app Teams and the standalone Office software. This move is aimed at avoiding a potential antitrust fine from the European Union (EU), according to Reuters, citing three sources knowledgeable about the situation.
This initiative by the American technology corporation comes half a decade after Slack, now owned by Salesforce (NYSE:CRM), lodged a complaint with the European Commission regarding Microsoft’s bundling of Teams with Office. In 2023, German competitor alfaview raised a similar complaint with the EU regulatory body.
Teams, which was added to Office 365 at no additional cost in 2017 and eventually replaced Skype for Business, gained popularity during the pandemic due to its video conferencing capabilities.
By making the Office suite with Teams more expensive, Microsoft could enable competitors to price their products competitively and attract users to switch to their platforms.
In 2023, Microsoft separated Teams from Office, selling Office without Teams for 2 euros less than the bundled version with the video app. The company stated that Teams as a standalone product would be sold for 5 euros per month.
The European Commission has reached out to some companies for their feedback, setting a deadline for responses within this week, before deciding on conducting a formal market test, the three sources revealed.
They also reported that Microsoft has proposed improved interoperability terms to foster more competition from rivals.
Microsoft, which faced 2.2 billion euros ($2.3 billion) in EU antitrust fines two decades ago for tying or bundling multiple products together, and the EU competition enforcer both declined to comment. The EU can impose fines up to 10% of a company’s global annual revenue.
If the Commission accepts Microsoft’s proposal without imposing a fine or finding any wrongdoing, it could redirect manpower and resources towards its investigations into Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL), one of the sources mentioned.
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