Pricing

Microsoft was accused in a London court on Thursday of overcharging nearly sixty thousand British businesses that run Windows Server on cloud platforms operated by Amazon, Google and Alibaba. The claim forms the basis of a £2.1bn lawsuit seeking to challenge how the company prices its software outside its own cloud service Azure.

The case is being brought by competition specialist Maria Luisa Stasi, who argues that Microsoft’s pricing model puts rival cloud providers at a disadvantage and forces customers to pay more if they choose alternatives. The hearing is a key step as Stasi asks the Competition Appeal Tribunal …