Suspected of bundled sales? EU announces anti-monopoly investigation into Microsoft | Market | EU
The European Commission announced on the 27th that it will launch an anti-monopoly investigation into Microsoft Inc. in the United States, citing allegations that Microsoft has bundled its products for sale. The investigation aims to understand whether Microsoft has "abused and protected its market position" through this practice.
European Commission: Bundled sales will hinder market competition
Teams is an instant messaging and video conferencing application launched by Microsoft in 2016, which was added for free to its popular office application Office suite in 2017. The European Commission believes that by packaging Teams with its Office suite, Microsoft may effectively prevent other communication and collaboration tools from competing. Meanwhile, EU officials have also expressed concerns about interoperability issues between Microsoft software and third-party products.
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Microsoft: Collaborate with relevant investigations to seek solutions
On the 27th, the Executive Vice President of the European Commission responsible for digital policy and competition affairs, Vestager, pointed out in a statement that video conferencing applications like Teams have become indispensable office tools for many European companies. Therefore, the EU must ensure that the relevant markets maintain competitiveness, and companies can freely choose products that best meet their needs. Microsoft stated that it will cooperate with relevant investigations to find solutions and respond to concerns from all parties.
US media: The EU's antitrust review of Microsoft is becoming increasingly stringent
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For many years, Microsoft has been facing pressure from European antitrust agencies. Reuters reported that over the past decade, Microsoft has faced antitrust fines of billions of euros for violating EU regulations. According to CNN, this in-depth investigation reflects the EU's increasingly strict antitrust review of Microsoft.