𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗯𝘆 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗿𝘂𝗺 𝗘𝗦𝗚 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗔𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘀𝘁 𝗜𝗷𝗮𝗵 𝗢𝗳𝗼𝗻.

Microsoft may be forced to pay £1bn in legal fees after seemingly overcharging for their software, forcing UK businesses to use Microsoft Azure, its cloud computing service, and restrict competition in the sector.  

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗽𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝘂𝗽 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗿𝘂𝗺 𝗘𝗦𝗚 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺? 💻  

On Tuesday the 3rd of December, the real-time sentiment tracker picked up multiple accounts of this story, flagging it as a rising concern.  

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗱? 📰  

A £1bn class action lawsuit has been brought forward in the UK by regulation expert, Dr Maria Luisa Stasi and has been filed with the UK’s Competition Appeal Tribunal.  

The suit alleges that customers using competitors such as Google Cloud or Amazon AWS are being forced to pay higher fees for Windows Server licenses on these platforms, rather than those using Microsoft's own Azure cloud platform.  

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has also been investigating and monitoring the cloud computing industry, as concerns continue to stack against tech giants like Microsoft for monopolising the market.  

This has a significant impact on UK SME’s, many of whom are facing significant charges from Microsoft as the company continues to push prices up for their Windows Server.   

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗰𝘁? 📉  

This type of claim is still relatively new, having only been introduced in the UK in 2015; meaning investors will need to exercise patience before they are able to factor claims like this into their long-term decision making.   

While we may not see the true implications of this immediately, it is something to monitor as regulatory standards continue to tighten.  

A key aspect to note is that the CMA have demonstrated their willingness to go after a tech giant such as Microsoft, meaning there will be little wriggle room for smaller companies in the sector.   

𝗖𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗘𝗦𝗚 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀? 🗂️  

The Integrum ESG Platform has given Microsoft an overall score of 1 out of 4 for the Competitive Behaviour metric.   

Whilst we have captured that the company has a Fair Competition Policy in place, their recent actions show this is either not robust enough or they are blatantly contradicting it.   

Their poor performance for this metric can be attributed to their opaqueness regarding their lack of disclosure of any legal fines on this issue in their most recent 10-K.  

This is just one of many examples demonstrating how ESG data, both fundamental and real-time, can unravel stories and increase awareness on ESG risks.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸?

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