According to informed sources, Microsoft is likely to face an antitrust investigation by the EU in the coming months. Despite engaging in discussions with the EU watchdog to prevent such an investigation, it appears that these negotiations have hit a roadblock. In the past decade, Microsoft has been fined EUR 2.2 billion for violating EU competition rules, such as the bundling of multiple products together. The company came under scrutiny from the EU after a complaint was filed by Slack, the workspace messaging app owned by Salesforce, in 2020.
In 2017, Microsoft introduced Teams as a free addition to Office 365, eventually replacing Skype for Business. Slack accused its rival of unfairly integrating Teams into its Office product.
In an attempt to avoid an investigation, Microsoft initiated talks with the European Commission last year. Recently, the company proposed a price reduction for its Office product without including the Teams app. However, the European Commission is seeking a more significant price cut than what the U.S. software giant offered.
Both the European Commission and Microsoft declined to comment on the matter. A Microsoft spokesperson stated that the company continues to cooperate with the Commission’s investigation and remains open to practical solutions that address concerns and benefit customers.
In other news, several new smartphones are expected to debut in July, including the Nothing Phone 2 and the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra. To find out more about these exciting smartphones and other tech news, check out the latest episode of Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital can be accessed on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and other podcast platforms.
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