Nov 27 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has

opened a broad antitrust investigation into Microsoft ( MSFT ),

including of its software licensing and cloud computing

businesses, a source familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

The probe was approved by FTC chair Lina Khan before her

likely departure in January, following the presidential election

victory of Donald Trump and the expectation he will appoint a

fellow Republican with a softer approach towards business.

The agency is examining allegations that the software giant

is potentially abusing its market power in productivity software

by imposing punitive licensing terms to prevent customers from

moving their data from its Azure cloud service to other

competitive platforms.

Microsoft ( MSFT ) declined to comment. The FTC did not immediately

respond to a Reuters' request for comment.

FTC antitrust lawyers are set to meet with Microsoft ( MSFT )

competitors next week to gather more information about the

technology company's business practices, Bloomberg reported

earlier on Wednesday.