Microsoft said on Monday that it will isolate Teams from the rest of its Office suite. According to a Reuters exclusive, the computer behemoth would unbundle the two items in an effort to avoid antitrust penalties.
The global move comes six months after Microsoft removed Teams from its Office product in Europe. The European Commission has been investigating the Teams and Office bundle since 2020, when Microsoft’s competitor Slack submitted an antitrust complaint.
Why Microsoft separate Teams from Office?
The European Commission launched an investigation into Microsoft’s business practices last year to see whether the tech giant was abusing its market dominance by combining Teams with its Office software suite.
The probe was launched on allegations that Microsoft’s bundling strategy gave it an unfair advantage over its competitors.
To address these concerns, Microsoft has adopted safeguards to separate Teams from its Microsoft 365 and Office 365 suites in the European Economic Area and Switzerland, effective October 1.
The European Commission responded warmly to the judgment, highlighting the need of giving multinational corporations greater flexibility in their purchasing decisions across many areas.
A Microsoft official emphasized the company’s commitment to delivering transparent information to customers. “To ensure clarity for our customers, we are expanding the measures we implemented last year to separate Teams from M365 and O365 in the European Economic Area and Switzerland to customers worldwide,” the company said.
What’s next for Teams and Office?
Microsoft Teams will be unbundled from the Office service on April 1, 2024. Existing customers will continue to benefit from their current licensing agreement, which bundles Teams and Office. They can also choose to renew the contract, update, or move to new offerings.
For new customers, Teams will only be offered as a standalone app for $5.25, while Office packages without Teams would cost between $7.75 and $54.75.