Microsoft could be next in line for an antitrust lawsuit
Leaders in the tech industry are facing the U.S. as anticompetitive behavior is investigated Getty/Business Insider composite
Google, Amazon and Apple are all facing antirust lawsuits from the U.S. for anticompetitive behavior
Microsoft is noticeably absent
Slack’s CEO said Microsoft’s tactics are “surprisingly unsportsmanlike”
Tech companies in the U.S. went largely untouched by federal regulators, until earlier in 2019 when Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Google were hit with dozens of antitrust lawsuits.
Noticeably absent is Microsoft, who instead is waging a once-quiet war with Slack.
Teams, Microsoft’s office chat software that debuted in 2017, has been in direct competition with Slack, which was unveiled in 2013 as the modern office for work-from-home employees and spread-out offices. But despite its four-year lead, Microsoft Teams has quickly overtaken Slack thanks to its bundle discount with other Office 365 products, like Outlook, Word and Excel.
At a tech conference in July, Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield called Microsoft’s competition tactics “surprisingly unsportsmanlike.”
A 2019 survey from Okta, a digital security company, showed more than 75% of companies that use Office 365 also use Slack. But an approaching recession could doom the software beloved by media and tech companies alike as businesses cut down on spending.
Right now, federal regulators have far more pressing antitrust lawsuits when it comes to big tech companies, like Attorney General William P. Barr’s assessment that advanced encryption turns devices into “law-free zones.” and Google’s censorship tools for its search device.
But Microsoft isn’t too far away from becoming its next focus.
