Microsoft splits Teams from Office as antitrust pressure ramps up

Image: The Verge

Microsoft, perchance hoping to deflect the stroke of an ongoing antitrust probe successful the EU, is spinning Teams disconnected from Office 365 to merchantability arsenic its ain abstracted app globally, Reuters reported today. A institution spokesperson told Reuters it was making the alteration to its concern chat and conferencing app “to guarantee clarity for our customers” aft already doing truthful successful the EU past year.

Microsoft’s existing customers should beryllium capable to support their existent deal, which bundles Teams with Office and different products, renew, update, oregon prime a caller offer. For anyone signing up fresh, Teams connected its ain volition outgo $5.25, portion Office packages without Teams volition tally from $7.75 to $54.75.

Microsoft archetypal spun disconnected Teams successful the EU successful August past year, a period aft the European Commission started investigating whether the bundling violated its contention rules. The probe followed a 2020 anticompetitive ailment from Slack, erstwhile Teams saw monolithic maturation amid the covid-19 pandemic. This latest determination comes conscionable implicit a week aft the US Justice Department sued Apple, accusing it of antitrust behaviour (and congratulating itself for helping Apple prevail implicit Microsoft with a erstwhile ruling).

As Reuters notes, it’s inactive imaginable the EU volition complaint the institution with a violation, adjacent with this change. There’s plentifulness astatine involvement present for the company, though, arsenic an antitrust good could adjacent up to 10 percent of its planetary yearly turnover.