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Highlights:

• The European Commission accepted Microsoft’s commitments to unbundle Teams from Office 365 and Microsoft 365.
  
• The deal makes Microsoft’s pledges legally binding for at least seven years, avoiding a heavy antitrust fine.
  
• Changes include reduced-price Office suites without Teams, easier switching for long-term customers, and improved interoperability.
  
• The case followed a 2023 complaint by Slack, now owned by Salesforce.
  
• Critics say Microsoft’s bundling harmed competition and denied customers choice.
  

The European Union has accepted binding commitments from Microsoft to unbundle its Teams communication platform from its Office software suites, sparing the company a potentially heavy antitrust fine. The move follows a lengthy investigation triggered by a complaint from rival service Slack.

EU decision

On Friday, the European Commission confirmed that Microsoft’s commitments would become legally binding under EU competition rules for a period of at least seven years. Regulators had accused the company of “abusive” tying practices by packaging Teams with Office products, a move that they said prevented rivals from competing fairly.