Today, Microsoft announced that their collaboration tool, Teams, will no longer be included in their Microsoft 365 and Office 365 services in the European market. This decision stems from Teams’ competitor, Slack, lodging a complaint against Microsoft with the EU Commission in 2020 for anti-competitive practices related to bundling Teams with Office.
As a result, the EU Commission initiated an investigation against Microsoft last month. Microsoft seems to be preempting the EU Commission by removing Teams from its Office services before the EU’s investigation is completed. Starting from October 1st, Microsoft will lower the prices by 2 euros per user per month for Microsoft 365 and Office 365. At the same time, Microsoft will begin selling Teams separately in the EU for 5 euros per user per month.
In essence, this presents a favorable option for companies that feel they can do without Teams but still want Microsoft’s Office services. However, for companies that still want both Office and Teams, it appears that costs will increase in the future.
