The UK Competition and Markets Authority announced on October 16, 2026, that it is consulting on a proposed decision to designate Microsoft as having strategic market status in respect of its business software ecosystem.
Proposed designation and consultation
The CMA launched its initial strategic market status (SMS) investigation into Microsoft on May 14, 2026, under Part 1 of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers (DMCC) Act 2024.
Alongside the proposed decision, the regulator published an indicative roadmap detailing areas where it proposes to gather further evidence and consider potential interventions if Microsoft receives the final designation.
The CMA is inviting feedback from interested parties until 5pm on November 13, 2026. The regulator noted that Microsoft has confirmed it will not use confidentiality provisions in non-disclosure agreements to prevent parties from responding.
Customer research and evidence gathering
The proposed decision follows evidence-gathering stages that included qualitative research by appointed agency Jigsaw Research, which evaluated UK customer purchasing decisions, available alternatives, and switching barriers.
The regulator released several supporting documents alongside the proposal, including market power assessments, customer data analysis, profitability reports, and market outcome findings.
Investigation timeline and decision makers
Following the November consultation close, Microsoft will have the opportunity to make oral representations to decision makers before the CMA prepares a final decision report.
The statutory deadline for the CMA to issue an SMS decision notice is February 13, 2027.
Decisions are overseen by a sub-committee of the Digital Markets Board Committee, which includes CMA Chief Executive Officer Sarah Cardell, Executive Director for Digital Markets Will Hayter, non-executive directors Katie Kapernaros and Cyrus Mehta, and panel member Colleen Keck.
What to do
- Interested parties can submit views on the proposed decision and roadmap through the CMA consultation page or by email to business.software.sms@cma.gov.uk by 5pm on November 13, 2026.
- Parties submitting confidential information must clearly mark that content, inform the CMA of its confidential nature, and supply a non-confidential version suitable for publication on the CMA website.
Key facts and where they come from
- The UK CMA opened a consultation on proposing to designate Microsoft as having strategic market status regarding its business software ecosystem.
The CMA is consulting on its proposed decision to designate Microsoft as having strategic market status (SMS) in respect of its business software ecosystem.
- The investigation was launched under Part 1 of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024.
The CMA has launched an initial SMS investigation under Part 1 of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers (DMCC) Act 2024.
- The statutory deadline for issuing a final strategic market status decision notice is February 13, 2027.
13 February 2027 Statutory deadline for issue of SMS decision notice
- Microsoft confirmed it will not enforce non-disclosure confidentiality terms to block parties from submitting consultation responses.
Microsoft has confirmed that it will not use any confidentiality provision with a party to prevent them from responding to this consultation.
