FTC advances Microsoft antitrust probe; shares hold gains

Microsoft MSFT.O up 0.7% after Bloomberg reported the U.S. Federal Trade Commission is moving ahead with a broad antitrust probe of the tech giant

Reuters reported in November that FTC is examining allegations that MSFT is abusing its market power in productivity software by imposing punitive licensing terms to prevent customers from moving their data from its Azure cloud service to other platforms

MSFT stock down about 9% YTD, aligning with Nasdaq .IXIC decline of 9%

Stock approx 18% below 52-week intraday high of $468.35 reached on July 5, 2024

MSFT recently traded at 26x expected earnings, below 5-year avg forward PE of 30, per LSEG data