Google's $500M Offer to Derail Microsoft European Union (EU) Antitrust Settlement Fails

Google's $500M Offer to Derail Microsoft European Union (EU) Antitrust Settlement Fails

Google attempted to disrupt a Microsoft antitrust settlement in the European Union by offering a $500 million alternative deal to the Cloud Infrastructure Services Providers in Europe (CISPE), Bloomberg reported. Google's offer aimed to persuade CISPE to maintain its EU antitrust complaint against Microsoft, but it came just days before CISPE reached a settlement with Microsoft. Despite the substantial offer, CISPE opted to settle with Microsoft, forcing the group to accept several compromises.

Confidential documents and sources familiar with the matter revealed that Google proposed a package worth nearly $500 million over more than five years of software licenses and about $15 million in cash. However, CISPE rejected the offer and announced an agreement with Microsoft. CISPE initially filed its complaint in 2022, accusing Microsoft of damaging the European cloud ecosystem and limiting customer choice by increasing costs for running Microsoft software on rival cloud services. CISPE had emphasized that any resolution should be accessible to all cloud customers in Europe and promised to make agreements public.

The settlement, finalized last week, excluded major competitors such as Amazon (a CISPE member) and Google (not a CISPE member). Although CISPE had pledged transparency, the specific terms of the deal were not disclosed, except for a blog post outlining key features that allegedly addressed CISPE's concerns about Microsoft's anticompetitive behavior. CISPE agreed to drop the complaint, but the exact amount Microsoft paid in a lump sum to cover CISPE's legal fees remains unclear. According to TechCrunch, two sources indicated that Microsoft offered approximately $22 million.