Microsoft to unbundle Office and Teams globally following years-long criticism

Microsoft will introduce a new version of Microsoft 365 and Office 365 subscription service that excludes Teams, unbundling a suite following scrutiny from the European Union regulator and complaints from rival Slack.

The move follows Microsoft agreeing to sell Office 365 suite sans Microsoft Teams offering in the EU and Switzerland last year. The company introduced Teams as a complimentary offering to the Office 365 suite in 2017.

Microsoft has enjoyed an unfair advantage by coupling the two offerings, many businesses have argued. Slack, owned by Salesforce, termed the move “illegal” alleging that Microsoft forced installation of Teams to customers through its market-dominant productivity suite and hid the true cost of the chat and video service.

In a statement to Reuters, Microsoft said the unbundling “also addresses feedback from the European Commission by providing multinational businesses more flexibility when they want to standardize their purchasing across geographies.”

Reuters reported that Microsoft will introduce the new Office 365 lineups on Monday. Microsoft had not implemented the change at the time of publishing.

TechCrunch has reached out to Microsoft for more details. We will update the story as we learn more.