German regulator starts Microsoft investigation
Germany's Federal Cartel Office announced on Tuesday that it launched an inquiry into Microsoft Corp.'s cross-market significance for competition. It said it will look into the existence of a "digital ecosystem that extends across different markets" that could put the tech giant in a "position of power," making competing with it more difficult.
The agency's President Andreas Mundt cited Microsoft's wide range of products and services, from its operating system, office software, cloud services, video conferencing software, gaming, and search engine, to the recent artificial intelligence integration. "In view of this, there are good reasons to consider whether Microsoft has an outstanding cross-market significance. Such a determination would allow us to identify and prohibit any anti-competitive behavior at an early stage," he said.