05:01 AM EDT, 04/02/2024 (MT Newswires) -- (Updates with a statement from Microsoft ( MSFT ).)

Microsoft ( MSFT ) said Monday it plans to separate sales of its chat and video app Teams from its Office product line across the world.

The company did the same last year in Europe to avoid the scrutiny of antitrust investigators following a lawsuit by Salesforce ( CRM ) alleging Microsoft ( MSFT ) was abusing its market power in the operating system space to drive out competitors like Slack in the messaging field.

"To ensure clarity for our customers, we are extending the steps we took last year to unbundle Teams from M365 and O365 in the European Economic Area and Switzerland to customers globally," Microsoft ( MSFT ) said in a statement shared with MT Newswires.

The company added that the unbundling "addresses feedback from the European Commission by providing multinational companies more flexibility when they want to standardize their purchasing across geographies."