Recently Microsoft has been searching for a new CEO to step in after current CEO, Steve Ballmer, retires in 10 months. Microsoft shortlisted the candidates to Ford’s Alan Mulally and former CEO of Nokia, Stephen Elop from an external list of candidates.
Apparently, Stephen Elop is the most ambitious candidate out of the shortlisted candidates with big plans already thought out if he is made CEO. His plans will upset a lot of gamers out there as he plans on selling the Xbox business. Not only that but Elop will also kill Bing, a search engine provided by Microsoft.
It was already rumored that the Xbox Division, internally, wasn’t doing well and there were many conflicts between high-post individuals. With Stephen Elop and his clear motive, could this be the last we see of the Xbox brand from Microsoft? Stephen Elop wants to focus more on the mobile technologies and also wants to release the popular suite “Office” to a broad range of smartphone Operating Systems including Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android.
With the Xbox One, already under a lot of fire and having a very shaky start, the Xbox division shutting down could be a sure possibility in the near future. The question is: if the Xbox brand sells, who will be there to buy it? Will one of the competitors (Sony or Nintendo) have a go at it?
What do you think about this business strategy? Let us know in the comments below.
Source: Bloomberg via The Verge
