Microsoft will stop bundling Teams with Office in Europe

The Big Tech firm is trying to appease regulators and avoid antitrust fines

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Microsoft will no longer include its Teams video conferencing app with its Office software suite in Europe to preempt potential antitrust penalties.

Here are a few key points:

• The move comes after the European Union's executive Commission initiated a formal investigation in response to concerns raised by Slack Technologies in 2020. Slack (which is owned by Salesforce) accused Microsoft of leveraging its market dominance by bundling Teams with its Office suite, which includes applications like Word and Excel.

• Microsoft aims to address these concerns by allowing customers to purchase Office without Teams at a reduced price and by facilitating interoperability with rival communication software. The company also plans to offer a standalone version of Teams for purchase.

• The changes will be implemented on October 1 in the European Economic Area and Switzerland.

• Microsoft intends to provide more support to software developers and make it easier for competitors to utilize Teams’ functionalities.

• This development comes amid increased scrutiny of U.S. tech giants by European regulators over concerns of market dominance.