The news: Microsoft will avoid a major EU antitrust fine by agreeing to sell its Teams app separately from Office 365 and Microsoft 365. Brussels is set to approve the deal after a positive market test, with no strong objections from rivals or customers, per Bloomberg.

As part of the settlement, Microsoft must not only unbundle Teams but also lower prices on Office packages without it and improve interoperability with rival apps such as  Zoom, Slack, and similar productivity tools.

How we got here: The EU began investigating Microsoft in 2019 for allegedly abusing its market power by bundling its Teams video-conferencing app with its dominant Office productivity suite (Office 365/Microsoft 365).

• This practice was seen as giving Teams an unfair advantage over competitors like  Slack, which filed the original complaint.
• Microsoft has been complying with EU Digital Markets Act (DMA) restrictions. It has allowed users in the EU to uninstall the Edge browser, the Microsoft Store, and suppresses Bing prompts under new Windows 10 and 11 updates.

Trendspotting: This development reflects a change of strategy for EU regulation that is  pivoting away from fines and toward settlements that reshape platform behavior. 

Similar measures include Apple opening its wallet tech and Amazon changing its marketplace practices. These moves show regulators are pushing tech companies to change how products are priced and integrated.

The global picture: Increasingly aggressive EU regulations and fines could lead Big Tech companies to region-lock certain features and services in the EU. 

Offering deprecated hardware, apps, and experiences in the region could spark consumer backlash, unless regulators in other regions impose similar rules to force global compliance.

Our take: Microsoft sidesteps a fine but loses its bundling edge. The move levels the playing field for Slack, Zoom, and others—while showing the EU’s playbook could be evolving from punishing fines to behavioral change.

For marketers, this signals a future where campaigns, integrations, and partnerships must adapt to fragmented regional software ecosystems rather than assuming uniform global reach.

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