The EU’s Investigation into Microsoft Teams: A Preliminary Assessment

It came somewhat unexpectedly when DG COMP, EU’s competition arm, issued a Statement of Objection (“SO”) in June 2024 to Microsoft for having included Teams in its Office 365 package. Teams refers to a specific video communication software, while Office 365 pertains to a collection of cloud-based productivity software, which includes Outlook, Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. Combining these applications into a single bundle may potentially violate Article 102, but only if the bundles create anti-competitive effects and do not represent a new and unique product, or offer any significant benefits to consumers. From the standpoint of users, the bundles do appear to be both innovative and appealing. However, an SO is only released if DG COMP’s file shows a problem justifying moving forward with the case. Nevertheless, the Digital Markets Act (“DMA”) has been given so much prominence lately that it is surprising – in a positive way – that DG COMP has found time to enforce Article 102 and pursue more traditional cases. Furthermore, it is widely known that Microsoft took proactive measures in July 2023 to address the issue by providing a version of Office 365 without Teams, so potentially resolving any worries. Evidently, this was not persuasive enough. Alternatively, DG COMP has adopted the notion that you cannot absolve yourself of previous violations by modifying your future behavior. On the other hand, the timing of the situation is more comprehensible, as Commissioner Vestager’s term is coming to a close, making it important to resolve pending cases before her successor takes over. This also suggests that considerable time and effort has been dedicated to the case and the SO, reducing the likelihood that DG COMP may abandon the case or have reservations about its merits.