Key Takeaways
- The European Commission said it would not be investigating possible antitrust violations related to Microsoft’s agreement with AI startup Inflection AI.
- Officials said their decision came as seven member nations of the European Union withdrew their initial requests for a probe.
- In March, Microsoft paid $650 million to Inflection AI as a fee to resell its technology and hired two of its co-founders.
Microsoft (MSFT) won’t face a formal European regulatory investigation over its partnership with artificial intelligence (AI) startup Inflection AI.
The European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union (EU), announced that seven member nations have withdrawn their initial requests for an antitrust inquiry into the deal. The Commission said because of that, it will make no decision on the matter.
Microsoft in March said that it paid Inflection AI $650 million as part of a licensing fee to resell its technology. In addition, CEO Satya Nadella said that the company had hired two of Inflection’s co-founders, Mustafa Suleyman and Karen Simonyan, as well as other employees, to form a new division called Microsoft AI. Nadella said that Microsoft AI would focus on advancing its own AI product, CoPilot, and the firm’s other consumer AI products and research.
That move raised the concerns of antitrust regulators on both sides of the Atlantic. Earlier this month, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority ruled that the agreement was not a threat to competition there. However, U.S. officials are reportedly continuing to look into it.
Microsoft did not immediately respond to Investopedia’s request for comment.
Microsoft’s shares, down slightly today, are up about 15% in 2024.
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