UK Competition Regulator Targets Microsoft's Business Software Grip

3-line summary

• The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) proposed designating Microsoft's business software with 'strategic market status,' which would let the CMA intervene in how the company bundles products such as Excel, Teams, and its Copilot AI assistant; this is a proposal, not a finalized measure.
• The products in scope have about 20 million monthly users in the UK. The CMA is also examining whether customers can freely choose AI tools, whether rivals can compete with Copilot, whether bundling of security products limits choice, and how licensing policies affect customers' cloud-deployment choices.
• The CMA opened its investigation in May and will take comments on the proposed designation before a final decision by February. If finalized, Microsoft would become the third company subject to the UK's new digital markets powers, after Google (search, mobile platforms) and Apple (mobile platforms) were designated in October 2025; the CMA separately imposed new conduct requirements on Google's search business in June, including letting publishers opt their content out of Google's AI features and requiring more transparency in search ranking. A Microsoft spokesperson said the company disagrees with the CMA's provisional decision, arguing its products — including Copilot — are open and interoperable and that customers can use them alongside competing services.

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