Starting April 1, US tech company Microsoft has confirmed that it will sell its Office and Teams products separately globally.
The move comes amidst an investigation into the company by the European Commission following a complaint filed in 2020 by messaging app Slack which is owned by Salesforce.
Microsoft’s latest move is believed to be an attempt to prevent itself from facing EU antitrust fines. The company’s rivals have claimed that the bundling of the two apps gives it an unfair market advantage.
It’s worth noting that as of October 1 last year, it already began selling Teams and Office separately in the EU and Switzerland. That decision will now be extended worldwide.
“Last year Microsoft updated the way Microsoft 365, Office 365, and Teams were licensed in the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland. Now we are announcing our plan to extend that approach worldwide,” the company said in a blog post on April 1.
“Globally consistent licensing helps ensure clarity for customers and streamline decision-making and negotiations. To that end, we are now updating the way Microsoft 365, Office 365, and Teams are licensed outside of Europe in keeping with the recent changes in the EEA. Starting today, we are introducing 1) a new lineup of commercial Microsoft 365 and Office 365 suites that do not include Teams in regions outside the EEA and Switzerland, and 2) a new standalone Teams offering for Enterprise customers in those regions.”
Microsoft added that as was the case in the EEA and Switzerland, customers with existing subscriptions that include Microsoft Teams will be able to continue using plans they have already chosen.
Customers currently subscribed to any of its suites can continue to use, renew, upgrade, and add seats to their current plans as usual. If they wish to switch to the new lineup, they can do so on their contract anniversary or renewal.
Net new subscribers to Office/Microsoft 365 Enterprise suites outside the EEA and Switzerland who wish to provide their end users with Teams will need to purchase two SKUs: one Microsoft 365 (no Teams) or Office 365 (no Teams) suite and Microsoft Teams Enterprise.
