Zoom Raises Red Flags on Microsoft's Teams Bundling Following Slack, Engages with Global Regulators

Zoom Video Communications Inc ZM has engaged with regulators in the U.S., European Union, and other jurisdictions to express concerns regarding what it perceives as Microsoft Corp's MSFT anticompetitive behavior.

The communications software company has reportedly discussed with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and competition enforcers from the EU, U.K., and Germany over the past year. 

Zoom's concerns revolve around Microsoft allegedly favoring its Teams videoconferencing software through price bundling and product design, Bloomberg reports.

Microsoft is already under scrutiny by the EU's competition watchdog, investigating whether the bundling of Teams with Microsoft 365 and Office 365 violates antitrust rules. 

This inquiry stemmed from a complaint made by Salesforce Inc's CRM Slack messaging platform three years ago. 

Recently, Microsoft announced plans to unbundle Teams in Europe starting October 1. Europe penalized Microsoft by €2.2 billion between 2004 and 2013 under antitrust complaints.

Germany's Federal Cartel Office initiated an investigation into Microsoft in March, using newly granted powers that allow the authority to ban certain practices hindering online competition. 

The German probe examines Microsoft's bundling of OneDrive and Teams with its other productivity software.

In the U.S. and U.K., authorities have initiated initial inquiries into cloud services, where Microsoft's Azure has a significant presence. 

In April, the U.K.'s digital regulator expressed concerns that practices by Microsoft and other cloud rivals like Amazon.com Inc AMZN and Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGL could stifle innovation.

While Zoom views Teams as its primary competitor, it had not addressed the bundling issue until recently. Z

Zoom's CEO, Eric Yuan, stated that the FTC should investigate Microsoft's bundling practices and stressed the importance of fairness in competition.

Price Action: ZM shares traded lower by 0.18% at $73.55 premarket on the last check Friday.

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.