[Not only does the Commission believe that Microsoft has violated EU antitrust law, it also finds that changes to the way Microsoft distributes Teams are "insufficient to address the concerns" and that "further changes to [its] conduct are necessary to restore competition."

This is a "significant change in the way the company distributes its products.

This is according to a recent statement issued by the European Commission (EC) reporting the preliminary findings of its antitrust investigation into Microsoft and its cloud-based communications application, Teams. It all started in 2020 when Slack Technologies (now part of Salesforce) filed a complaint with the EC alleging that Microsoft illegally tied Teams to its productivity software package.

Three years later, the EC opened an investigation into whether Microsoft had violated Article 102 of the EU Treaty of Functioning. Around the same time, Alphaview (a developer of videoconferencing software) filed a similar complaint, and the EC decided to coordinate its investigation to cover both allegations.

In a statement, the Commission said that Microsoft "restricts competition in the market for communication and collaboration products" and that the changes Microsoft made when the EC opened its investigation "are insufficient to resolve the concerns and that further changes to Microsoft's further changes to its conduct are necessary to restore competition."

The changes in question were quite simple: Microsoft stopped including Teams in Microsoft 365 and Office 365 subscriptions for Switzerland and EEA countries. It also adjusted its software to allow companies like Zoom and Slack to create integrated solutions for products like Exchange, Outlook, and of course Teams.

However, the Commission found that "Microsoft may have given Teams a distribution advantage by failing to give customers the option of obtaining access to Teams when they signed up for its SaaS productivity application," and that "its conduct ,

If the EC's concerns are confirmed by the investigation, the EC may impose a fine of up to 10% of the company's worldwide annual sales after Microsoft has made an explanation for its conduct. 2023, Microsoft's total sales were just over $210 billion, so this This would be the largest fine in the history of the company's relationship with the EC, almost tenfold.

Even for the world's largest market cap company, a little over $20 billion is hardly chump change. The news did not worry investors, as Microsoft's stock showed no signs of falling in value. Microsoft will no doubt challenge the European Commission's findings, but whether it will just pay the fine or package Teams differently altogether is anyone's guess at this point.

For now, I'll just sit back with my popcorn and see what happens. Popcorn is a healthy snack. It sure tastes a lot better than some cloud-based communication and collaboration tool.