EU Questions Microsoft Peers Following Slack's Complaint

The European Commission probes Microsoft Corp's MSFT rivals if its Teams app bundled with its Office product gives it more significant clout, hinting at a potential investigation, Reuters reports.
The EU sought data regarding the migration of customers to Microsoft, revenue loss, the impact of the bundled products, and the price and quality of the products.
Popular workplace app providers include Zoom Video Communications ZM, Alphabet Inc's GOOG GOOGL Google, Facebook Inc FB, and Cisco Systems Inc CSCO.
Salesforce.com Inc CRM owned Slack alleged that tying or bundling Teams with Office was illegal and urged the EU competition agency to separate the two.
Slack said Microsoft pre-installed the workplace chat making it challenging to remove and refusing to provide information that would allow rival products to work with Teams and Office.
The EU questioned whether bundled products offer access to data that may increase their market power in both markets and make them anti-competitive.
The EU also inquired about barriers to entry or expansion in the workplace apps market, switching costs for customers, and the importance of user data protection.
The EU questioned the role of the COVID-19 in driving the demand for workplace apps and the post-pandemic repercussions.
The EU is focusing on the period 2016 - 2021. Microsoft introduced Teams in early 2017 to compete with Slack and others in the fast-growing workplace collaboration market.
Price Action: MSFT shares traded lower by 0.06% at $294.68 on the last check Friday.
Photo by StockSnap from Pixabay

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