Microsoft Faces $1 Billion Antitrust Lawsuit in the UK Over Cloud Services

Dec 03, 2024

Microsoft is facing a $1 billion antitrust lawsuit in the UK for allegedly penalizing thousands of British companies using Amazon and Google cloud services by imposing higher licensing fees for Windows Server software. Antitrust lawyer Maria Luisa Stasi filed the lawsuit seeking over £1 billion in compensation for affected businesses. The lawsuit claims Microsoft is pressuring companies to use its Azure cloud services, thus stifling competition in the industry.

The UK's antitrust authority is investigating the cloud services market, focusing on Amazon's AWS and Microsoft's Azure due to their growing dominance. While Google Cloud is a significant player globally, it lags behind AWS and Azure in market share. In 2020, Microsoft introduced new licensing fees for running its software on major cloud providers, allegedly to lure customers to Azure.

Additionally, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has launched a broad antitrust investigation into Microsoft, including its cloud business, following complaints about restrictive licensing terms.

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I/We may personally own shares in some of the companies mentioned above. However, those positions are not material to either the company or to my/our portfolios.

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