EU opens antitrust probe into Microsoft over Teams bundling
Silhouettes of laptop users are seen next to a screen projection of Microsoft logo in this photo illustration.
Dado Ruvic | Reuters
European Union regulators on Thursday opened an antitrust investigation into Microsoft’s bundling of its video and chat app Teams with other Office products.
The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, said that these practices may constitute anti-competitive behavior.
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It is the first antitrust investigation by the EU into Microsoft in over a decade.
“The Commission is concerned that Microsoft may grant Teams a distribution advantage by not giving customers the choice on whether or not to include access to that product when they subscribe to their productivity suites and may have limited the interoperability between its productivity suites and competing offerings,” the EU regulators said on Thursday in a press release.
In other words, the EU is concerned Microsoft is not giving customers the choice to not buy Teams when they subscribe to the company’s Office 365 product. In doing so, Microsoft might be stopping other companies from competing in the workplace messaging and video app space.
“These practices may constitute anti-competitive tying or bundling and prevent suppliers of other communication and collaboration tools from competing,” the Commission added.
Microsoft 365, previously known as Office 365, is Microsoft’s set of software which includes workplace-geared apps like Word and Excel.
Antitrust investigations do not have a self-imposed completion deadline. If Microsoft is found to be in breach of EU competition rules, the U.S. tech giant could face a fine of up to 10% of its total global annual turnover.
Slack raises concerns
Concerns over Microsoft on competitiveness grounds were first raised in 2020, when Teams rival Slack submitted a complaint to the EU, in which it alleged the Redmond tech giant illegally tied Teams to its dominant productivity packages, such as Microsoft 365. Slack, which is owned by Salesforce, has said the move meant millions of users were forced to install Teams without the ability to remove it.
A Microsoft spokesperson said, “We respect the European Commission’s work on this case and take our own responsibilities very seriously. We will continue to cooperate with the Commission and remain committed to finding solutions that will address its concerns.”
Microsoft was last subjected to an EU antitrust probe in 2009, in a similar case over its former web browser Internet Explorer. The EU raised concerns that competition was distorted by Microsoft tying Internet Explorer to its Windows operating system. Microsoft offered remedies to the EU, committing to allow Windows users a choice of rival web browsers.
More recently, Microsoft’s proposed $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard came under EU scrutiny, on grounds that the deal may distort competition in the console and cloud gaming market. Microsoft offered remedies to the EU in this case, leading to regulators approving the deal in May.
– CNBC’s Silvia Amaro and Ryan Browne contributed to this report.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk wears a ‘Trump Was Right About Everything!’ hat, as he, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe attend a cabinet meeting at the White House, in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 24, 2025.
Carlos Barria | Reuters
Tesla is set to report first-quarter earnings on Tuesday after market close.
Here’s what Wall Street is expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:
- Earnings per share: 39 cents
- Revenue: $21.11 billion
Tesla is expected to report a slight revenue decline from $21.3 billion in the same quarter a year earlier. However, investors are going to be more focused on what the future holds after concerns about tariffs and CEO Elon Musk’s close ties to the White House pushed the stock price down 44% so far this year as of Monday’s close.
Earlier this month, Tesla reported a 13% decline in deliveries to 336,681. Tesla blamed the lower deliveries, in part, on the need to suspend production temporarily at its factories while it upgraded lines to start manufacturing a refreshed version of its popular Model Y electric SUVs.
Deliveries are the closest approximation of vehicle sales reported by Tesla but are not precisely defined in the company’s shareholder communications.
At an all-hands meeting with employees last month, Musk tried to reassure staffers that they were still in good hands, and to “hang onto your stock.” He pointed to the popularity of the Model Y, and Tesla’s potential in robotics, artificial intelligence and autonomous vehicle technology.
At the meeting, Musk also made light of the backlash against Tesla elicited by his work for President Donald Trump to reduce the size of the federal government, and his endorsements of Germany’s anti-immigrant AfD party, along with other political rhetoric and antics.
“If you read the news it feels like, you know, Armageddon,” Musk said on a livestream of the employees meeting. “It’s like, I can’t walk past the TV without seeing a Tesla on fire.” He followed up saying, “This is psycho, stop being psycho!”
That was before Trump’s announcement earlier this month of widespread tariffs, the one area where Musk has publicly broken with the Trump administration. On X, he called Peter Navarro, Trump’s top trade advisor and tariff proponent, a “moron” and “dumber than a sack of bricks.”
Tesla stands to take a significant hit from the president’s proposed tariffs, assuming they don’t get rolled back. Tesla manufactures cars in the U.S. for domestic sales so it’s not subject to the 25% tariff on imported autos, but the hefty levies on other components and materials could be severe.
Tesla relies on suppliers in Mexico and China for items like automotive glass, printed circuit boards and battery cells, among other parts essential for the production of its cars. The company has sought an exemption from the U.S. trade representative for equipment imported from China that it uses in its factories.
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