Microsoft Faces £2.1B Cloud Licensing Lawsuit Over Alleged Anti-Competitive Practices

Microsoft stands accused of manipulating cloud licensing rules to stifle competition, with a £2.1 billion collective action filed at the UK's Competition Appeal Tribunal. Nearly 60,000 businesses claim the tech giant inflated costs for running Windows Server on rival platforms while favoring its own Azure infrastructure.

Lead claimant Maria Luisa Stasi alleges Microsoft's pricing structure created an artificial cost barrier for competitors. "They degraded the Windows Server experience on other clouds while subsidizing Azure operations," said Stasi's counsel Sarah Ford, framing this as a deliberate strategy to lock customers into Microsoft's ecosystem.

The case spotlights longstanding industry grievances about Microsoft's cloud dominance. UK regulators have previously flagged concerns about restrictive licensing terms that potentially violate antitrust principles. A tribunal decision on certifying the class action could reshape cloud computing's competitive landscape.