Report: FTC to Continue Biden Administration’s Antitrust Probe of Microsoft

An antitrust probe of Microsoft that was launched in the last days of the Biden administration will reportedly continue under the Trump administration.

Federal Trade Commission (FTC) staff have continued gathering information for the investigation, Bloomberg reported Wednesday (March 12), citing unnamed sources.

Reached by PYMNTS, the FTC declined to comment on the report.

Microsoft did not immediately reply to PYMNTS’ request for comment.

According to the Bloomberg report, the FTC sent Microsoft a civil investigative demand late last year demanding information about the company’s artificial intelligence (AI) operations, data centers, software licensing practices and decision to cut funding on its own AI projects after making a deal with OpenAI.

One company that was asked for information as part of the investigation told Bloomberg that the FTC wants to determine whether Microsoft has an edge over other AI companies because of the profits it earns from other parts of the business, per the report.

The FTC’s questions about the company’s software licensing practices may relate to competitors’ complaints about Microsoft bundling its office productivity, security software and cloud offerings, which makes it harder for them to compete, according to the report.

Microsoft’s decision to cancel some of its own work on AI after investing in OpenAI and using that company’s software is also under scrutiny by the FTC because that move may have reduced competition in the field, per the report.

Wide-ranging antitrust investigations like the one targeting Microsoft can take years and don’t always result in a case brought by the FTC, the report said.

Microsoft spokesmen Alex Haurek said in the report: “We are working cooperatively with the agency.”

It was reported in November that the FTC was set to investigate allegedly anticompetitive practices at Microsoft’s cloud computing business, focusing on allegations that the tech giant illegally uses the market power of its Office 365 productivity software to benefit its Azure cloud service.

In December, it was reported that Microsoft formally requested an investigation into the FTC after reports surfaced that details of the antitrust investigation were leaked. The company asked the regulator’s inspector general to examine whether senior management at the agency disclosed nonpublic information about the probe.