Microsoft has agreed to formally separate its Teams messaging and videoconferencing service from its Office productivity suites in Europe, ending a years-long antitrust probe in Brussels and signaling a significant shift in how regulators address the bundling practices of U.S. tech giants.
The European Commission approved the commitments on Friday, saying the settlement would help prevent business practices that limit competition in workplace software. Under the agreement, Microsoft will now sell Office 365 and Microsoft 365 without Teams at a reduced price in Europe, and customers with long-term licenses will be able to switch to these unbundled versions.
The case stems from a 2020 complaint filed by Slack Technologies, now owned by Salesforce, which alleged that tying Teams to Office gave Microsoft an unfair advantage in the fast-growing corporate collaboration market. Brussels launched a full investigation, raising concerns that the software giant was repeating the same exclusionary tactics that had defined its earlier confrontations with EU regulators.
Register for Tekedia Mini-MBA edition 19 (Feb 9 – May 2, 2026): big discounts for early bird.
Tekedia AI in Business Masterclass opens registrations.
Join Tekedia Capital Syndicate and co-invest in great global startups.
Register for Tekedia AI Lab: From Technical Design to Deployment (next edition begins Jan 24 2026).
Microsoft had already begun offering unbundled versions of Office 365 during the inquiry, but critics argued those steps were insufficient. After reviewing Microsoft’s updated commitments, the Commission required the company to expand the price gap between suites with Teams and those without by 50 percent, ranging from €1 to €8 per user, depending on the package. These changes will remain in place for at least seven years.
In addition, Microsoft pledged to publish technical documentation enabling greater interoperability between rival messaging services and Office applications, a requirement that will last for a decade. The company will also allow European customers to export Teams messaging data to competitors and ensure marketing materials clearly state that comparable Office versions are available without Teams. Crucially, these measures will be implemented globally, not just in the EU.
By settling, Microsoft avoids potentially steep penalties. Under EU law, fines for antitrust violations can reach up to 10 percent of a company’s worldwide annual revenue.
Microsoft has faced such sanctions before: in the early 2000s, it was fined €497 million for tying Windows Media Player to its operating system, followed by additional billion-euro fines for failing to comply with remedies. Later, a “browser choice” case over Internet Explorer again cost Microsoft hundreds of millions. These bruising encounters cemented the Commission’s reputation for aggressive enforcement — and have perhaps taught Brussels that fines alone often failed to meaningfully change market dynamics.
This time, regulators opted for a different strategy: binding structural commitments designed to promote competition over the long term. The EU appears to seek not just to punish past behavior but to shape the rules of the digital workplace for the future by embedding data portability, interoperability, and transparent pricing into the settlement.
The settlement comes amid heightened transatlantic friction over Big Tech regulation. Just last week, the European Commission fined Google $3.5 billion for anticompetitive adtech practices — a move that drew sharp criticism from President Donald Trump, who threatened retaliatory tariffs on European exports.
However, the commitments provide an opening for rivals such as Slack and Zoom to compete more effectively without being crowded out by Microsoft’s distribution power. For Microsoft, the settlement closes a politically sensitive standoff in Europe while preserving its global productivity empire. It is also believed to reflect a more mature regulatory approach for Brussels, born from two decades of hard-fought battles with Microsoft itself.