Europe's New Microsoft Probe Strikes a Familiar Chord

Microsoft, which has managed to keep its nose clean with antitrust regulators for more than a decade, is now back in their crosshairs. The European Commission Thursday said it had opened a formal probe of complaints that Microsoft is improperly tying its Teams collaboration software to its Microsoft 365 productivity suite. 

The Commission said it’s “concerned” that Microsoft may effectively be forcing customers to include Teams with their Microsoft 365 subscriptions—better known as Office—which include the popular Word, Excel and PowerPoint programs. That would hurt competitors—including Slack, which lodged the initial complaint against Microsoft more than three years ago that got the ball rolling with EU regulators.