Microsoft Ditches Bundle: Teams Now a Standalone Application Amid Antitrust Concerns

Microsoft has recently announced that it will be separating its Teams business messaging and video app from its Office software globally. This decision comes after the company faced potential fines from European competition regulators, leading them to make this change in Europe last year. The move aims to provide more clarity for customers and address feedback from the European Commission regarding standardizing purchasing across geographies for multinational companies.

Teams was originally added to Office in 2017, but the decision to split the two products is a strategic one to avoid potential antitrust charges from the European Union. Microsoft is offering Teams as a standalone application for new customers, priced at $5.25 (£4.20). This will allow customers to have more flexibility in choosing which products they want to purchase, without necessarily bundling them together.

In the past, Microsoft has faced antitrust fines from the EU for bundling products together, totaling over 2.2 billion euros ($2.4bn; £1.9bn). By separating Teams from Office, the company is hoping to avoid similar fines and maintain a competitive edge in the industry. This decision comes after Microsoft’s previous antitrust challenges in the late 1990s, where the company was accused of stifling competition from rival web browsers on the Windows platform.

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