Microsoft has decided to unbundle Teams from the Microsoft 365 and Office 365 suites, a move that is in response to the European Commission’s competition concerns about the bundling approach.

What does “unbundling” Teams from Microsoft 365 mean?

This unbundling means that from October 2023, these suites will be available at a reduced price, without Teams included, potentially lowering the financial burden on organisations that do not utilise Teams or use its alternatives like Slack or Zoom.

What geographies are affected?

EEA and Switzerland. Other countries may continue business as usual.

Why is Microsoft doing it?

The reason is probably that Microsoft is trying to proactively address what the European Commission sees as unfair competition practices. We don’t even have to guess. Let us quote the original announcement:

“Last month, the European Commission announced that it had opened a formal investigation regarding Microsoft’s bundling of Microsoft Teams with Microsoft 365 and Office 365 suites for business customers. As we said at the time, “we will continue to cooperate with the Commission and remain committed to finding solutions that will address its concerns.”

“Today we are announcing proactive changes that we hope will start to address these concerns in a meaningful way, even while the European Commission’s investigation continues and we cooperate with it.”