EU regulators let Microsoft off the hook after Teams unbundling pledge
(2025/09/12)
- Reference: 1757674812
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/09/12/eu_regulators_let_microsoft_off/
- Source link:
The EU has signed off on Microsoft's concessions over Teams bundling, letting Redmond dodge a monster antitrust fine in a deal that will barely rock the boat for anyone.
Brussels [1]announced on Friday that it has accepted Microsoft's concessions, formally ending a five-year investigation [2]triggered by a 2020 complaint from Slack , now owned by [3]Salesforce . Slack had accused Redmond of using its dominance in Office to crush rivals by quietly bolting Teams onto Microsoft 365 at no extra cost, making it the default collaboration tool for millions of businesses overnight.
David Schellhase moaned to the EC that Microsoft was "reverting to past behavior," adding that Redmond "created a weak, copycat product and tied it to their dominant Office product, force installing it and blocking its removal." The Commission took the complaint seriously, opening an antitrust probe in 2023 and signalling that a fine could be on the horizon.
[4]
[5]Microsoft offered a package of concessions back in May , pledging to give customers a real choice about whether they want Teams included with their Office subscriptions. From now on, European customers can buy Microsoft 365 without Teams at a slightly lower price, or pay extra to keep Teams bundled in. The company also promised to open up more APIs and improve data portability so competitors can integrate more easily with its services.
[6]
[7]
These concessions, now approved by the European Commission, will remain in force for seven years, except for the commitments related to interoperability and data portability, which will remain in force for ten years.
European regulators said they "market-tested" the offer with rivals and big corporate customers, who apparently decided it was good enough. The Commission said on Friday that the concessions "address the competition concerns" and formally closed the case. That means Microsoft walks away without paying a penny in penalties, which, given that EU competition fines can reach up to 10 percent of global turnover, could have been an eye-watering sum.
[8]
"With today's decision, we make binding for seven years or more Microsoft's commitments to put an end to its tying practices that may be preventing rivals from effectively competing with Teams," said EU competition chief Teresa Ribera. "Today's decision therefore opens up competition in this crucial market, and ensures that businesses can freely choose the communication and collaboration product that best suits their needs."
[9]WhatsApp's former security boss claims reporting infosec failings led to ousting
[10]Judge who ruled Google is a monopoly decides to do hardly anything to break it up
[11]xAI fires legal rocket at Apple and OpenAI claiming they're locking out Grok
[12]Reddit is people! Which means its search might not be so damaged by AI slop
Microsoft didn't respond to The Register 's request for comment.
Team has around 320 million active monthly users and Slack is understood to have around 52 million total users.
Few expect this to spark a mass exodus from Teams or threaten Microsoft's grip on workplace chat. Most organizations are too embedded in the Microsoft ecosystem to switch just to shave a few euros off their bill. And even if they do opt for a Teams-free plan, Microsoft still cashes in – selling Teams as an optional extra rather than bundling it for "free."
For Brussels, this is a way to declare victory without a protracted legal fight. EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager can point to this as proof that the Commission is forcing Big Tech to play fair. ®
Get our [13]Tech Resources
[1] https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/da/ip_25_2048
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2020/07/22/slack_versus_teams/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/01/salesforce_buys_slack/
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/saas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aMRDlr6Z1kHBdbAQgqxqYQAAAM8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/16/microsoft_proposes_sweeping_global_concessions/
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/saas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aMRDlr6Z1kHBdbAQgqxqYQAAAM8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/saas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aMRDlr6Z1kHBdbAQgqxqYQAAAM8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/saas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aMRDlr6Z1kHBdbAQgqxqYQAAAM8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/08/whatsapp_exsecurity_head_sues_company/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/03/google_doj_antitrust_ruling/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/25/xai_apple_openai_lawsuit/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/02/reddit_ready_for_search_business/
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Brussels [1]announced on Friday that it has accepted Microsoft's concessions, formally ending a five-year investigation [2]triggered by a 2020 complaint from Slack , now owned by [3]Salesforce . Slack had accused Redmond of using its dominance in Office to crush rivals by quietly bolting Teams onto Microsoft 365 at no extra cost, making it the default collaboration tool for millions of businesses overnight.
David Schellhase moaned to the EC that Microsoft was "reverting to past behavior," adding that Redmond "created a weak, copycat product and tied it to their dominant Office product, force installing it and blocking its removal." The Commission took the complaint seriously, opening an antitrust probe in 2023 and signalling that a fine could be on the horizon.
[4]
[5]Microsoft offered a package of concessions back in May , pledging to give customers a real choice about whether they want Teams included with their Office subscriptions. From now on, European customers can buy Microsoft 365 without Teams at a slightly lower price, or pay extra to keep Teams bundled in. The company also promised to open up more APIs and improve data portability so competitors can integrate more easily with its services.
[6]
[7]
These concessions, now approved by the European Commission, will remain in force for seven years, except for the commitments related to interoperability and data portability, which will remain in force for ten years.
European regulators said they "market-tested" the offer with rivals and big corporate customers, who apparently decided it was good enough. The Commission said on Friday that the concessions "address the competition concerns" and formally closed the case. That means Microsoft walks away without paying a penny in penalties, which, given that EU competition fines can reach up to 10 percent of global turnover, could have been an eye-watering sum.
[8]
"With today's decision, we make binding for seven years or more Microsoft's commitments to put an end to its tying practices that may be preventing rivals from effectively competing with Teams," said EU competition chief Teresa Ribera. "Today's decision therefore opens up competition in this crucial market, and ensures that businesses can freely choose the communication and collaboration product that best suits their needs."
[9]WhatsApp's former security boss claims reporting infosec failings led to ousting
[10]Judge who ruled Google is a monopoly decides to do hardly anything to break it up
[11]xAI fires legal rocket at Apple and OpenAI claiming they're locking out Grok
[12]Reddit is people! Which means its search might not be so damaged by AI slop
Microsoft didn't respond to The Register 's request for comment.
Team has around 320 million active monthly users and Slack is understood to have around 52 million total users.
Few expect this to spark a mass exodus from Teams or threaten Microsoft's grip on workplace chat. Most organizations are too embedded in the Microsoft ecosystem to switch just to shave a few euros off their bill. And even if they do opt for a Teams-free plan, Microsoft still cashes in – selling Teams as an optional extra rather than bundling it for "free."
For Brussels, this is a way to declare victory without a protracted legal fight. EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager can point to this as proof that the Commission is forcing Big Tech to play fair. ®
Get our [13]Tech Resources
[1] https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/da/ip_25_2048
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2020/07/22/slack_versus_teams/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/01/salesforce_buys_slack/
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/saas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aMRDlr6Z1kHBdbAQgqxqYQAAAM8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/16/microsoft_proposes_sweeping_global_concessions/
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/saas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aMRDlr6Z1kHBdbAQgqxqYQAAAM8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/saas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aMRDlr6Z1kHBdbAQgqxqYQAAAM8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/saas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aMRDlr6Z1kHBdbAQgqxqYQAAAM8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/08/whatsapp_exsecurity_head_sues_company/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/03/google_doj_antitrust_ruling/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/25/xai_apple_openai_lawsuit/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/02/reddit_ready_for_search_business/
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Peter-Waterman1
They are hanging it out on windows licensing in other clouds. That’s a much bigger threat to their business than bundling teams. No condescensions from Msft there. Wondering if the EU will bend over for that.
Tump called
No fines, of there will be consequences. The EU capitulated again.