The EU antitrust watchdog sent questionnaires, its second batch, to rivals in October, asking for more details on Microsoft's interoperability and bundling practices, suggesting it may be preparing the ground for a formal probe, other people familiar with the matter told Reuters last month. "As you know the assessment of the complaint is ongoing so we cannot comment further," it said. The company has previously said it created Teams to combine the ability to collaborate with the ability to connect via video and that it gained popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic while Slack suffered from its absence of video-conferencing. Microsoft, which has been hit with 2.2 billion euros ($2.3 billion) in EU fines in the previous decade for cases involving so-called tying and other practices, declined to comment. It has made a preliminary offer of concessions to try to allay the EU competition enforcer's concerns, one of the people said. Microsoft introduced Teams in 2017, aiming for a slice of the fast-growing and lucrative workplace collaboration market. software giant has unfairly integrated its workplace chat and video app Teams into its Office product. Microsoft found itself in the European Commission's crosshairs again last year after Slack alleged the U.S. The move, which may head off the opening of a formal EU antitrust investigation, underscores once again Microsoft's new preference for working out issues with regulators rather than jousting with them as it did in the previous decade. BRUSSELS, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Microsoft (MSFT.O) is seeking to address European Union antitrust concerns about its business practices prompted by a complaint from 's (CRM.N) workspace messaging app Slack, people familiar with the matter said.
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