Microsoft is facing a broad antitrust investigation from the US FTC

(Bloomberg) — The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has launched an antitrust investigation into Microsoft Corp. opened, delving into everything from the company’s cloud computing and software licensing businesses to cybersecurity offerings and artificial intelligence products.

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After more than a year of informal interviews with competitors and business partners, antitrust enforcers have drafted a detailed request to force Microsoft to hand over information, people familiar with the matter said. The demand, which is hundreds of pages long, was sent to the company after FTC Chairman Lina Khan signed off on it, one of the people said.

FTC antitrust lawyers will meet with Microsoft competitors next week to gather more information about the Redmond, Washington-based company’s business practices, according to two other people familiar with the plans who, like the others, have asked for not to be named while discussing a confidential matter.

Microsoft and the FTC declined to comment.

The FTC’s investigation into Microsoft’s cloud computing activities gained momentum following a series of cybersecurity incidents involving the company’s products. The company is a leading government contractor, providing billions of dollars in software and cloud services to U.S. agencies, including the Department of Defense.

The demand for information from Microsoft is one of Khan’s parting moments as she steps down after launching one of the most aggressive pushes against consolidated corporate power the agency has delivered in decades. While business leaders hope that President-elect Donald Trump will usher in an era of lighter regulation, it will be up to his new FTC chairman – still unnamed – to decide how to proceed with the matter.

The FTC investigation renews scrutiny of Microsoft’s business practices more than 25 years after the government sued the company for similar conduct that involved bundling the Windows operating system and browser and unsuccessfully trying to break it up.

A key focus of the current investigation is Microsoft’s bundling of both its popular office productivity and security software with its cloud offerings, according to the people familiar with the information request.

Microsoft’s cybersecurity shortcomings, combined with its influence as a government contractor, are seen by the FTC as an example of the company’s problematic market power, those people said.

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