This development is the latest in a year-and-a-half-long probe into whether Redmond is illegally monopolizing several markets and purposely making it more difficult, expensive, or near-impossible to use its products on competitors’ cloud infrastructure. This could put the tech giant in violation of the FTC Act which was passed in 1914 to promote industry competition.
Detailed questions around competitive pressure, AI bundling
The FTC launched its probe into Microsoft in November 2024 and amped it up earlier this year, issuing civil investigative demands (CIDs) to more than a half dozen of the tech giant’s competitors in the business software and cloud computing markets. US government agencies use these powerful, subpoena-like mandates to investigate potential violations of civil law, and they typically (but not always) precede formal complaints or lawsuits.
New reports reveal that the CIDs ask a range of questions (generally more than 15, some with multiple parts) centered around Microsoft’s licensing and other business practices. In what seems an attempt to learn more about the cloud industry, the FTC is also asking for information on the competitors’ organizational charts, product roadmaps, business and marketing strategies, and detailed plans around bundling, pricing, discounting, and profitability.
Additional questions seem to focus on the difficulties competitors face in breaking into a Microsoft-dominated market, requesting information about factors such as costs and barriers to entry or expansion. The CIDs ask about Redmond’s impact on competition, and solicit any documentation that explicitly reveals its policies, bundling, and interoperability practices. Further, the mandates seek information about industry AI offerings, particularly the combining of extra features and services with long-standing products like Microsoft 365.
