According to a recent report from Reuters, Microsoft has made the decision to separate Teams from Office on a global scale. This move follows a similar action taken in EU markets about six months ago as a preemptive measure to avoid potential antitrust penalties.
With this change, Teams will no longer be bundled with Microsoft 365 and Office 365, which it has been a part of since 2017. A spokesperson for Microsoft stated:
In an effort to provide clarity for our customers, we are expanding on the actions taken last year to unbundle Teams from M365 and O365 in the European Economic Area and Switzerland to customers worldwide. This decision also addresses feedback from the European Commission by offering multinational companies more flexibility in standardizing their purchases across different regions.
Effective immediately, Microsoft is introducing Teams as a standalone product with a price tag of $5.25 per user per month. However, pricing for Enterprise-level packages can vary significantly based on factors such as country and currency. Office prices without Teams now range from $7.75 to $54.75, depending on the specific package selected.
Existing customers have the option to maintain their current licensing agreement, renew, update, or switch to the new offerings if desired.
Microsoft’s competitors have long argued that bundling products and services gives the company an unfair advantage, so it will be interesting to see how they are able to compete under these new conditions.
