Yahoo Finance Coca-Cola sips on a $1.1 billion of Microsoft's cloud and AI brew, amid 'anti-competitive' probe by antitrust regulators
What you need to know
Microsoft and Coca-Cola get into a $1.1 billion five-year deal.
The drink company will have access to Microsoft's AI and cloud computing services, including Azure OpenAI Service and Copilot for Microsoft 365.
Both companies will jointly try to explore how to enhance productivity using Copilot for Microsoft 365.
Coca-Cola recently got into a $1.1 billion five-year deal with Microsoft, allowing it to leverage its cloud computing and artificial intelligence services, including Azure OpenAI Service and Copilot for Microsoft 365.
As you might already know, Coca-Cola had a similar arrangement with Microsoft in 2020. The $250 million commitment was centered on improving Coca-Cola’s digital transformation.
According to Neeraj Tolmare, Senior VP and global chief information officer at Coca-Cola:
"Our expanded partnership with Microsoft is an important next chapter in Coca-Cola’s journey toward a digital-first enterprise powered by emerging technologies. Microsoft’s capabilities help accelerate our adoption of AI to create incremental enterprise value.”
The extended partnership will allow the companies to "jointly experiment with groundbreaking new technology like Azure OpenAI Service to develop innovative generative AI use cases across various business functions." Both companies will try to establish how Copilot for Microsoft 365 can enhance and improve productivity.
It is worth noting Coca-Cola has already transitioned its apps to Microsoft Azure, and more independent bottling partners are likely to follow in the same footsteps. The drink company has already been using AI and Azure OpenAI Service to reevaluate its business strategy from marketing to branding to the manufacturing and supply chain process.
The company is exploring new opportunities with AI-powered digital assistants on Azure OpenAI Service designed to improve customer relations, operations, innovation, competitive advantage, and more.
Antitrust regulators already placed Microsoft under fire for "anti-competitive" cloud computing business practices
Earlier this month, Microsoft was slapped with a case by a South African-based antitrust watchdog citing unfair cloud computing business practices. And while the tech giant indicated it wasn't aware of any case involving a South African regulator, it faced similar charges in 2022 when CISPE complained about its unfair business practices to the EU.
RELATED: Amazon and Microsoft to sign $1 billion ‘megadeal’ for cloud productivity
The organization further added Microsoft's dominance in cloud computing and productivity software didn't give its competitors a chance, as it restricted choice and inflated costs as customers sought to transition to the cloud.
