NEW YORK, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has opened an antitrust investigation of Microsoft Corp., drilling into everything from the company's cloud computing and software licensing businesses to cybersecurity offerings and artificial intelligence products, according to Bloomberg News.
"After more than a year of conducting informal interviews with competitors and business partners, antitrust enforcers have crafted a detailed request to force Microsoft to turn over information," the report said, citing people familiar with the matter. "The demand, which is hundreds of pages long, has been sent to the company after FTC Chair Lina Khan signed off, said one of the people."
FTC antitrust lawyers are set to meet with Microsoft competitors next week to gather more information about the Redmond, Washington-based company's business practices, said the report.
The FTC's scrutiny of Microsoft's cloud computing business gained steam after a string of cybersecurity incidents that involved the company's products, it added. The company is a top government contractor, providing billions of dollars in software and cloud services to U.S. agencies including the Defense Department. ■
