Microsoft To Unbundle ‘Office’ Suite In Europe Amid Competition Concerns

U.S. technology giant Microsoft (MSFT) has proposed unbundling its Office 365 and Microsoft 365 software suites from its Teams app to address European competition concerns.

The European Commission, which is the executive arm of the European Union (EU), said that Microsoft has offered remedies to address concerns over the tying of its Teams virtual meeting app to its popular workplace productivity tools such as Word and Outlook.

Specifically, Microsoft has committed to make versions of Office 365 and Microsoft 365 available without Teams at a reduced price.

The Seattle-based technology company has also said that it will allow customers to switch to the tools without Teams, including under existing contracts.

Finally, Microsoft committed to let customers move their data out of Teams to competing products.

The European Union has been scrutinizing Microsoft’s tying of Teams with its popular Office productivity suite following legal claims that the bundle represents an abuse of market power.

Competitors of Microsoft, such as Salesforce (CRM), have accused Microsoft of “anticompetitive practices” that have harmed or reduced competition to the detriment of consumers.

The stock of Microsoft has risen 8% this year to trade at $453.13 U.S. per share.