Due to EU Pressure, Microsoft to Separate Teams from Office in Europe

Microsoft has revealed its decision to permit business clients across Europe to independently purchase its video and chat application, Teams, separate from its Office software suite. This announcement comes approximately a month after the European Union initiated an antitrust inquiry into Microsoft's bundling practices involving these products.

Commencing on October 1, this alteration will impact enterprises within the EU and four additional European nations that utilize Microsoft 365 and Office 365 suites.

In addition, Microsoft (MSFT) is set to streamline the process for external companies, such as Salesforce-owned Slack and Zoom, to seamlessly integrate their offerings with Microsoft 365, which has been rebranded from Office 365.

Nanna-Louise Linde, Vice President for European Government Affairs at Microsoft, stated in a blog post, "We believe these changes balance the interests of our competitors with those of European business customers, providing them with access to the best possible solutions at competitive prices."

She further elaborated that Microsoft will actively cooperate with the ongoing investigation and is receptive to exploring practical resolutions that mutually benefit European customers and developers.

As part of this strategic adjustment, Microsoft plans to lower the subscription fee for "core enterprise customers" by €2 ($2.2) per month for the Microsoft 365 and Office 365 packages, which encompass applications like Word, Excel, and Outlook. This adjustment, however, will exclude the widely-used Teams application.