Elop + Microsoft = Potential Disaster

Stephen Elop, former CEO of Nokia, appears to be lobbying hard to get the top job at Microsoft, or at least talking loudly enough about what he'd do if he gets the top job that makes me think he's not the right person for the position.

Xbox is making money for Microsoft. It has nothing to do with Office or the enterprise, which really is a good thing because it gives the company diversity outside of its historic core moneymakers. Further, of the consumer big three of Apple, Google, and Microsoft, only Microsoft has a footprint into the living room by virtue of being connected to the TV for games. The next generation Xbox One is designed to overlay onto existing TV and cable TV connections, allowing it to intermediate TV watching with the ability to inject Skype calling and add voice control for the selection of TV shows

[user7402931]

Imminent

[mrpsychoticstalker]

People at Microsoft are smarter than that, the Xbox division is making money for them and it is their last chance for the dominion of the living room. they will never sell the Xbox division.

[iamnsuperman]

They (well investors/analysts and people like this guy) are smart to realise they/Microsoft have a problem. The problem is these people think what makes Microsoft money has deteriorated under Ballmer's reign because of having to spend money and concentrate resources on other things. Bing was an incredible dumb moveand they should abandon it. It still requires work to compete with Google which means more money.... The Xbox makes money but no where near anything substantial to their greater products (that is the hard decision to make. Is the living room and important market?)

In the end Microsoft has been failing in innovating and anticipating the market with its software whicb has been more reactive. They need to sort this as people like Google, Apple and other much smaller companies are encroaching on their 'secure' income. That is why there have been all this talk and Microsoft is smart enough to know it. It is all about resource management and where Microsoft should put it's focus because these more side products have distracted their focus (which isn't helped by people reporting that Microsoft's division do not like working together under Ballmer's reign)

[kingdip90]

Why more people can't comprehend this is beyond me, from an investor point of veiw spinning off xbox can make perfect sense, the investors make money either way and in microsoft terms the profits the xbox makes are meager so its a none issue to them.

I understand that people love xbox but just because some people do doesn't mean that microsoft keeping it is a good idea for them...

[Insomnia_84]

↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑

THIS!

[redwin]

@king. If ms sells Xbox, I will never have confidence in their product and I will throw away my pc, ms phone and Xbox. I'll buy an apple computer and phone and a ps4. ( the ms phone is my daughter's, but u get the point). If we all do that, u gonna have to sell your ms stock in a year.

[Kleptic]

The Xbox division has been under shareholder scrutiny for years, that isn't anything new...

the 'newer' thing with MS is that now even internal personel are starting to question what exactly they are attempting to accomplish?

obviously, they want to make money...but by what margin? Internal investment in 'diversity' related products (i.e. the stuff outside of OEM windows/office sales, as well as enterprise wise networking deals)...has been just about as half-assed as possible...Xbox fans won't admit that, the gaming media won't admit that, but from a business perspective...isn't it easy to see why someone investing money would simply say 'what the hell are you guys doing?'...Its fine that they are trying to get into other markets, but its like they expect to just show up and have the most popular stuff...and its just not working out that way...

Zune (now...xbox music haha? what?), Bing, and the entire industry of mobile devices...they have nearly no chance to catch up in those markets...

video game consoles...they still have a strong foothold backed by a steady stream of start up investment over the past decade...the 'hard' part, is over so to speak...however, recent mishaps have set them considerably back...again...most reports show that a huge amount of market share earned through this current generation, particularly in the United States, could be gone in as little as a year...we'll see...but its not exactly all sunshine in this regard...

When a company plateau's, changes start coming in fast...MS is profiting, but on margins so small compared to 10 years ago...this was inevitable...I don't know if getting rid of xbox is the right move; but i hardly find it that surprising...

oh, and this 'because the xbox works with a television subscription' is very near sighted...take a look at cable subscription adoption vs. something like netflix over the past 5 years...if this author thinks banking on 'cable tv' is going to help the xbox division out of this mess, think again...over-priced commercial pushing is plummeting a lot faster than pretty much anything in consumer regards...

[amiga-man]

The problem with MS is that gaming isn't at their heart, you can bet the people at the top have never played a video game and see it more of a distraction than anything that offers any real value.

That to me though is short sighted, there are many advantages a successful xbox would bring that go far beyond just making money, but it would take a vision and commitment that MS lacks and this guy could be the perfect example of that.

[kingdip90]

The people at the top is definitely the problem. I have beef with xbxox for sure over the drm attempt and such but I will give credit where its due, xbox sure as heck seems to have people who are passionate about games... unfortunately orders come from the top to integrate with every single other thing microsoft does and to trojan horse the living room and then you end up with the pr disaster that is xbox one.

Microsoft selling xbox would be good for xbox and for gamers

[HammadTheBeast]

They're the guys who consider it a toy, and find Bing a more attractive investment.

[Deadpoolio]

You understand that they have never made money off the xbox right? NO FACT it has never made them a penny...

Oh wait what am I talking about your clearly an Xbot who loves gargling that Microjizz otherwise you would actually know that they haven't made a penny off of Xbox

[mrpsychoticstalker]

I think you better check your sources again, have you forgotten all the millions Don mattick brought after changes to the dashboard were applied? Perhaps the hardware did not make them money but their LiVe did and will continue to do so while most multiplayer fans prefer Xbox live to PS network.

[Insomnia_84]

Read...

http://www.gamesindustry.bi...

[Magicite]

wrong, think again

[lastofgen]

Elop is a decent leader, but nowhere near good enough to lead a huge company like microsoft.
It was primarily because of him and his inability to react to the smartphone market that Nokia fell so much over the past few years. Honestly, I don't think he'll be chosen as a ceo.

And bing has just begun to gain traction (the online division is actually making profits for microsoft now) and the xbox business is microsoft's major push into the living room, so I don't think anyone at microsoft would want to let the two services go. They've invested too much into them to simply kill them off or sell them off.

[mrpsychoticstalker]

totally agree with you, its been years of investments towards the Xbox Brand to easily let it go.

[iamnsuperman]

"It was primarily because of him and his inability to react to the smartphone market that Nokia fell so much over the past few years"

Or it is called a hostile takeover move. Look evidence is pointing to him still working for Microsoft. The fact he is still being publicly considered for the CEO role of Microsoft after the Nokia affair should be clear enough. Microsoft needed an established phone manufacturer to push it's software. Elop 'decisions'made that possible. We were all surprised by Microsoft's move on Nokia until the storm settled and he was re hired

[ExDexteraDomini]

It isn't like the Windows OS is becoming more popular and it's not like Microsoft would be more popular if they got rid of Bing and Xbox. If anything, those are both some of the last remaining things I can positively associate with Microsoft. To let either of those go would be a setback for them, I say this even for Bing mainly because of its integration into most of their products.

[Stick89]

"Xbox is making money for them"...isn't it also losing a lot of money for them? Investors don't give a shit if your product is bringing in a billion dollars a year if you are losing twice that much supporting it.

[BitbyDeath]

Therein lies the problem.

“Xbox is cool, but by our estimates Microsoft has not made money at this”

http://www.eteknix.com/micr...

[Manic2014]

Actually since 07 the division is being profitable, though they still have to recover from all their investments to the division. Most of the loss is heavily due to the RROD situation. Though every years since 07 has been profitable for MS.......

http://www.neowin.net/news/...

[MCTJim]

same story..debunked..lets move on already

can we not have 5 duplicate stories running at the same time. Come on people, how does this get approved over and over?

[joeyisback]

Hope he becomes CEO and sells the xbox brand

[GiantEnemyCrab]

Not going to happen, he is merely making the most noise.

[LordDhampire]

he would never be CEO, he ran nokia into the ground

[HammadTheBeast]

Well, that, and the fact that Apple wrecked them with the smartphone era.

[LGM313]

Was hard to compete with apple and also he probably did so MS could buy it for nothing, now he wants his pay check as CEO.

[ThatCanadianGuy514]

I dunno man.If they come in dead last for 3 gens in a row, with gen 1 & 2 being a total money sink i can see it happening.

Investors have been calling for it for years and ballmer was the door stop keeping that from happening.Well, he's about to step down soon..

[SpinalRemains138]

Microsoft would do well with a younger CEO

[LGM313]

I would buy an xbox as soon as MS sell the brand to some company that concentrate in gaming.

[ruefrak]

Elop is right. The Xbox is the coolest thing that Microsoft has, and on the consumer front, it's one of the biggest successes, but for Microsoft as a whole, it's a distraction.
The Xbox division does not and has not earned the company money. Whatever profits they manage to squeeze out of it is no where close to the billions they have put into it.
Microsoft's main pillars lie in the billion dollar businesses such as Office, Windows, and Server. The Xbox with it's 80 million sold over 8 years is nothing compared to these other businesses. R&D costs are more and margins are much slimmer. And it's come to light that it's possible that all the "profits" the Xbox division has seen recently are mainly due to the licensing fees Microsoft collects for Android.
If the Xbox was split off into it's own company, it would be better for Microsoft and its shareholders. And I think if done right, it'd be better for Xbox as well.
Elop did as well as anyone could have hoped with Nokia. They were a sinking ship and he at least found them a lifeline and a bail out. They didn't go the way of Blackberry, which is where they were headed.

[ELCUCO]

If Xbox one bombs, I can see them spin off xbox in about 4 years. I'm guessing they would sell off its assets like studios and ip's...etc. It'd be more profitable that way, unless some major corp like Samsung or Google buys it. They'd be better off focusing on Azure and Windows. Leave the games for the people that know what gaming is.

[FrigidDARKNESS]

Why does this topic keeps getting posted. Micrsoft has already debunked the article from Bloomberg journalist. It was fabricated and made up.

[Harmonizer]

I'd love to see Microsoft selling the Xbox brand and then release their games on PC again.

But who would buy a business that doesn't make money? Only ones i could see doing it is Google, Apple (the irony)Samsung or some chineese company.

[starscream420]

Hahahahaha. Microsoft did make a mistake and got cocky just like Nintendo did when they lost there crown to Sony,and like (arguably) Sony did to Microsoft.....however The big M knows that if they can take over the living room they could potentially make ocean loads of money!!! I understand some gamers aren't interested in the extra functionality of the One but really???? I am 33 have to kids and a wife all of which will enjoy the xbox the most....my two daughters will enjoy the casual Kinect games I have no doubt. My wife will warm up real quick to the excessive games I'm sure,not to mention the tv integration. This console is well thought out for family's. If you are 16 and have little use in the extra stuff besides games so what? It still does everything the ps4 does! Love me or hate em Microsoft is worth more than Sony and Nintendo combined they know what they are doing. Before any starts the Microsoft is the devil Sony is Jesus argument.......remember both just want to seep rate you from your hard earned cash-I see getting more for my money out of the One.