The European Commission has announced it will open a public consultation on new commitments offered by Microsoft in an effort to resolve a long-running antitrust investigation into its messaging and video platform, Teams. The move suggests the U.S. tech giant may be nearing the end of a case that has been unfolding for years.
Microsoft had previously proposed separating Teams from its popular Office suite, but the Commission—Europe’s main competition watchdog—found those measures insufficient and last year accused the company of potentially abusive practices.
In its latest offer, Microsoft pledges to sell Office 365 and Microsoft 365 without Teams at discounted prices and to give customers the flexibility to switch between versions with or without the app. The company also promises to make it easier for rival products to interoperate with Teams and to allow users to transfer data from Teams to competing platforms.
“The Commission invites all interested parties to submit their views on these proposals,” the regulator said in a statement. If deemed satisfactory, the commitments would become legally binding.
Nanna-Louise Linde, Microsoft’s Vice President for European Government Affairs, expressed optimism in a blog post: “We are hopeful that the Commission will formally close its investigation in the coming months.”
The commitments would remain in effect for up to ten years. Should Microsoft fail to comply, it could face fines of up to 10% of its global annual revenue—potentially amounting to tens of billions of euros.
The investigation dates back to 2020, when Slack Technologies—a subsidiary of enterprise software company Salesforce—filed a complaint accusing Microsoft of abusing its market dominance by bundling Teams with Office, which includes tools like Word, Excel, and Outlook.
Salesforce President Sabastian Niles said the Commission’s announcement “confirms that Microsoft’s anticompetitive practices with Teams have harmed competition and require a binding, enforceable, and effective remedy.” He added that the company would carefully review Microsoft’s proposed commitments.
