Slack Files EU Competition Complaint Against Microsoft
July 22 2020 - 9:00AM
Business Wire
Slack Technologies, Inc., (NYSE: WORK) today announced it has
filed a competition complaint against Microsoft Corporation before
the European Commission.
The complaint details Microsoft’s illegal and anti-competitive
practice of abusing its market dominance to extinguish competition
in breach of European Union competition law. Microsoft has
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.
“We’re confident that we win on the merits of our product, but
we can’t ignore illegal behavior that deprives customers of access
to the tools and solutions they want,” said Jonathan Prince, Vice
President of Communications and Policy at Slack. “Slack threatens
Microsoft’s hold on business email, the cornerstone of Office,
which means Slack threatens Microsoft’s lock on enterprise
software.”
“But this is much bigger than Slack versus Microsoft – this is a
proxy for two very different philosophies for the future of digital
ecosystems, gateways versus gatekeepers,” Prince said. “Slack
offers an open, flexible approach that compounds the threat to
Microsoft because it is a gateway to innovative, best-in-class
technology that competes with the rest of Microsoft’s stack and
gives customers the freedom to build solutions that meet their
needs. We want to be the 2% of your software budget that makes the
other 98% more valuable; they want 100% of your budget every
time.”
“Slack simply wants fair competition and a level playing field.
Healthy competition drives innovation and creates the best products
and the most choice for customers. Competition and antitrust laws
are designed to ensure that dominant companies are not allowed to
foreclose competition illegally. We’re asking the EU to be a
neutral referee, examine the facts, and enforce the law,” said
David Schellhase, General Counsel at Slack. “Microsoft is reverting
to past behavior. They created a weak, copycat product and tied it
to their dominant Office product, force installing it and blocking
its removal, a carbon copy of their illegal behavior during the
‘browser wars.’ Slack is asking the European Commission to take
swift action to ensure Microsoft cannot continue to illegally
leverage its power from one market to another by bundling or tying
products.”
The European Commission will now review the complaint and decide
whether to open a formal investigation into Microsoft’s
anti-competitive practices.
About Slack:
Slack has transformed business communication. It’s the leading
channel-based messaging platform, used by millions to align their
teams, unify their systems, and drive their businesses forward.
Only Slack offers a secure, enterprise-grade environment that can
scale with the largest companies in the world. It is a new layer of
the business technology stack where people can work together more
effectively, connect all their other software tools and services,
and find the information they need to do their best work. Slack is
where work happens.
Slack and the Slack logo are trademarks of Slack Technologies,
Inc. or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other
names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200722005498/en/
Jesse Hulsing Investor Relations ir@slack.com
Jonathan Prince Communications and Policy
competition@slack.com
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