Microsoft could face antitrust scrutiny over cloud practices: report
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Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), which has largely escaped the scrutiny from lawmakers around the world that has been placed on some of the other large tech companies may soon find itself in hot water for some business practices relating to its cloud computing unit, Azure.
According to the Financial Times, Microsoft could face an informal antitrust review in Europe over the fact that it is reportedly using certain anti-competitive practices to obtain customers and usher them away from competitors such as Amazon's (AMZN) Web Services and Google (GOOG) (GOOGL) Cloud.
Microsoft is reportedly tying in Windows and Office to help grow Azure, which critics argue is a similar business practice that brought the last antitrust case against the company in the early 2000s.
Microsoft (MSFT) shares gained slightly more than 1% to $284.95 in premarket trading on Wednesday.
Microsoft has said that it can give better terms on its Windows and Office software to customers if they also use Azure.
In a statement obtained by the FT, Microsoft (MSFT) President Brad Smith admitted some of the claims were "valid," but not all of them. 
âWhile not all of these claims are valid, some of them are, and weâll absolutely make changes soon to address them,â Smith said, adding that the company is âcommitted to listening to our customers and meeting the needs of European cloud providersâ.
The European Union has reportedly sent a questionnaire to Microsoft's (MSFT) rivals asking about the terms for using Microsoft's software and if they are at a disadvantage.
On Monday, investment bank UBS said Microsoft (MSFT) was at risk of seeing a "gentle deceleration" in Office 365-related growth as benefits from the pandemic and work-from-home boom are starting to fade.