(Reuters) -Microsoft is close to reaching a multimillion-dollar deal with an Amazon-backed cloud lobby to drop an antitrust complaint with the European Commission, Politico reported on Saturday.
The deal, which has not yet been accepted by members of the lobby group Cloud Infrastructure Services Providers in Europe (CISPE), would result in the providers withdrawing an inquiry request over Microsoft’s cloud licensing agreements, the report said, citing industry officials with knowledge. of the proposal.
The pact would include a possible payment of millions of euros to the trade association, according to the report, but separate payments could also be made to individual companies.
Microsoft, Amazon, CISPE and the European Commission did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside regular business hours.
CISPE, whose members include Amazon and 26 small cloud providers in the EU, filed a complaint in late 2022 alleging that Microsoft’s new contract terms imposed on October 1 were damaging Europe’s cloud computing ecosystem.
As part of a settlement, CISPE and its members would also agree not to file legal complaints against Microsoft in any country in the world, the report said.
Reuters first reported in February that Microsoft was in talks with CISPE to resolve the European Union’s antitrust complaint over the software giant’s cloud licensing practices.
(Reporting by Utkarsh Shetti and Gursimran Kaur in Bengaluru; Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Tom Hogue)
