The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) will formally launch a strategic investigation into Microsoft’s market situation this month. The organization will consider whether the bundling of Windows, Word, Excel, Teams, Copilot and related Office products is not competitive.
“Our aim is to understand how these markets are developing, Microsoft’s position within them and to consider what targeted actions, if any, might be needed to ensure UK organizations can benefit from choice, innovation and competitive pricing,” Sarah Cardell, chief executive of CMA, said in a statement released by Reuters.
We have launched a strategic survey of the market state of Microsoft’s enterprise software ecosystem and are defining the details of what the survey will cover: pic.twitter.com/pDFMqWCdti
– Competition and Markets Authority (@CMAgovUK) May 14, 2026
She also highlighted the importance of the survey by pointing out that hundreds of thousands of UK residents use professional software and Microsoft products. The organization will review the company’s cloud licensing practices. The CMA said the investigation would conclude by February. At this point, Microsoft could be given a strategic market label.
Microsoft says it is “committed to working quickly and constructively with the CMA to facilitate its review of the enterprise software market.” A strategic market designation does not automatically imply wrongdoing, but will give the CMA more leeway to make further interventions.
This is not the first time that the organization has shown interest in Microsoft. The CMA has launched an investigation in 2023 into Microsoft’s relationship with OpenAI and another in 2024 to determine whether or not it was trying to avoid merger scrutiny by recruiting staff from an AI company called Inflection instead of buying it outright.
The company has also recently had legal issues in the United States. The FTC has launched investigations into the massive investments made into OpenAI and the aforementioned Inflection debacle.