WORK - Did Slack Admit Defeat by Filing Antitrust Claims Against Microsoft?
Slack (NYSE: WORK) recently filed an antitrust complaint against Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) in the European Union, claiming Microsoft's strategy of bundling Teams into Office 365 is anti-competitive.
In a blog post, Slack claims Microsoft "illegally tied its Teams product into its market-dominant Office productivity suite, force installing it for millions, blocking its removal, and hiding the true cost to enterprise customers." Jonathan Prince, VP of Communications and Policy at Slack, stated the company "can't ignore illegal behavior that deprives customers of access to the tools and solutions they want."
Slack's General Counsel David Schellhase insisted the company "simply wants fair competition and a level playing field," called Teams a "weak, copycat product," and accused Microsoft of illegally leveraging "its power from one market to another" with its software bundles. Schellhase also stated Slack was holding similar conversations with U.S. antitrust regulators in a press call, although no formal complaints have been filed yet.