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[Fox_Mulder]

Nadella will take the best decision for the company

Spoiler

goodbye xbox division

 

[inm8num2]

Holy shit, those hashtags and @'s and stuff.

He means business.

 

[statham]

I think that Billy wants to give his trust and support to Nandella, not that he wants to do it.

if you read the full content, that's exactly whats hes doing.

 

[Dr.Guru of Peru]

He probably means using Xbox/XBL as a launching pad for new content or a new service.

That's usually what is inferred by "spinning" something off.

I don't think Gates is shopping the XBOX DIVISION on Twitter lol..


If he is, he's got some BIG BALLS.

No one is saying he's shopping Xbox on Twitter. What a stupid strawman.

 

[Rookwood]

Nadella will take the best decision for the company

Spoiler

goodbye xbox division

Don't get so excited. Nadella supports Xbox.

 

[Dragonborn]

I think it's possible that the X1 is their last console. It'll be lucky to hit half of what the 360 did. Who knows though

 

[dLMN8R]

Can you imagine if Bill Gates said anything else?

"Bill Gates confronts new CEO on core business decisions"

 

[BRocknRolla]

I thought they had changed their policies and the people responsible were fired. Haven't the gamers forgiven MS?

Who was fired? Ballmer and Mattrick moved on and got different jobs (Maybe Mattrick was asked to leave, but who really knows?). There was not sacrificial lamb to apologize as far as I know.

As for MS being "forgiven," they did a lot of damage to their brand. It's going to take a lot more than a few game reveals and pr statements to fix that.

 

[Justified]

It's Fox News, come on people!

Its Fox Business, a separate entity. Thats like if your local Fox affiliate news station reported something, and saying. "It's Fox News, come on people!"

I get it some of their "News Commentators" are crappy, but they do have some decent "New Reporters"

 

[Secret_asian_man]

Holy shit at this guy's replies. There is no way he is for real. Nobody in the world could be like that.

It's probably a parody account.

Idk, ever been to Gamefaqs?

 

[jim2011]

Amazing how many people blindly read the hit trap tweet without reading the real article/context in which Xbox isn't even singled out.

 

[Vizzeh]

This could be good news or bad news depending on how you look at it, not sure if spinning Xbox off would leave it better off financially since apparently MS are constantly flushing millions on the brand. Its always nice to have a larger company behind to spread costs.

Advertising campaigns would likely diminish, buying 3rd party exclusives would likely go down the tube. Moneyhatting EA would hopefully back-off.

The benefits though could be a well directed enthusiastic platform for gamers, without corporate pollution and the 'gimped' hardware. if they can open some more studios and run them as a business, it might not be so bad. Perhaps the brand is worse off than we think since this story keeps coming back, now with the Don commenting on it.

I have fallen completely out of favor with xbox since their direction as a jack of all trades, master of none, E3 and Don Mattrick's implosion (albeit it has improved with Phil Spencer) - Would like to see an honest Xbox return with a better gaming vision, perhaps funded by Amazon or the like.

 

[JaggedSac]

Can someone please put this in the OP?

http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2014/05/05/buffett-leery-social-media-stocks-ipos/?cmpid=cmty_twitter_fb



H/T Jesu

Interesting stuff.

 

[Ape]

People in this thread want Xbox div to be sold and they're letting that get in the way of what actually happened. That's too bad.

 

[Shin]

Yeah I think it's about time. Hoping Samsung gets them.

I hope Amazon or perhaps Google, anything but Samsung.

 

[digoutyoursoul]

People in this thread want Xbox div to be sold and they're letting that get in the way of what actually happened. That's too bad.

Why would they want it to be sold ?

 

[nynt9]

Can you imagine if Bill Gates said anything else?

"Bill Gates confronts new CEO on core business decisions"

He could say "that's a decision for Satya to make", instead he said "I'm absolutely for it if he wants to". I think there is a difference, and so do other people in this thread.

 

[foxbeldin]

I don't know what spin off means exactly in this case, but something is definitely going on.

 

[DedValve]

I don't think Microsoft would give up the xbox brand like that, I just can't see it. Would be huge if it actually happens, it looks like Microsoft is trying to distance themselves away from hardware (outside Nokia) and focus more on services and subscription on their software.

 

[ValeYard]

Don't get so excited. Nadella supports Xbox.

^this. At least according to Phil Spencer the new big boss of MS is into Xbox. We'll see I guess. Since Xbox is connected to services, like Live, Music, and Video, it would be interesting how any spinning off would be handled.

 

[vpance]

So Gates is giving the blessing to Nadella to pull the trigger. Sounds like he's also giving themselves an out with the second part of the answer though. Nadella should comment if he doesn't want this to linger in the air. Silence from him would be bad.

 

[mercenar1e]

at some point its eventually going to happen..

 

[Dreamgazer]

People in this thread want Xbox div to be sold and they're letting that get in the way of what actually happened. That's too bad.

People in this thread keep using the term "spin off" as if it's the same thing as "sold".

 

[Guevara]

^this. At least according to Phil Spencer the new big boss of MS is into Xbox. We'll see I guess. Since Xbox is connected to services, like Live, Music, and Video, it would be interesting how any spinning off would be handled.

The head of Xbox says Microsoft supports Xbox? That's crazy

 

[SHADES]

Its Fox Business, a separate entity. Thats like if your local Fox affiliate news station reported something, and saying. "It's Fox News, come on people!"

I get it some of their "News Commentators" are crappy, but they do have some decent "New Reporters"

It's all about the context, to which none was given, neither a link to the full story. It's just sensationalised tweets which is standard for Fox.

 

[BRocknRolla]

Amazing how many people blindly read the hit trap tweet without reading the real article/context in which Xbox isn't even singled out.

Perhaps listen to the interview. They specifically discuss (and specifically single out) Xbox. If others are blind, perhaps you are deaf?

It's all about the context, to which none was given, neither a link to the full story. It's just sensationalised tweets which is standard for Fox.

Guys, listen to the interview. It is in fact discussed. The tweet deserves proper context, but the interview remains a fascinating conversation.

 

[SEGAvangelist]

Amazing how many people blindly read the hit trap tweet without reading the real article/context in which Xbox isn't even singled out.

Right. According to Fox's own report Gates said he would support Nadella spinning off one of its units but also said he doesn't foresee Bing or Xbox being one of those. Does the video talk about this, though?

 

[Servbot24]

It would probably be for the best. I'd much rather ave an Amazon console than a Microsoft console. I'm generally fine with Apple, but there's no way they would offer physical games.

Not gonna happen though, least not for several years.

 

[QaaQer]

The benefits though could be a well directed enthusiastic platform for gamers, without corporate pollution and the 'gimped' hardware. if they can open some more studios and run them as a business, it might not be so bad.

The problem with xbox right now is that it is part of some big overarching corporate strategy, just google One Microsoft. So the focus is on that and not giving consumers maximum value. Getting spun off would fix that.

It is similar to what PS went through when the rest of sony was pushing the cell and blu ray etc. With the PS4 the only objective was maximum value.


So, it would be a good thing for xbox fans.

 

[TheSeks]

Isn't that essentially him supporting the CEO? Probably doesn't want to undermine him.

Well, that and it isn't making MSFT much money. I wouldn't be surprised if Bill (despite being FOR the X-box back in the day) sees it as not such a good "long-term investment" now that nearly 14 years later it isn't making HUGE mad-bank for them.

I'm not opposed to MSFT having the console, but after DRM-gate? They're gonna have to sit a generation out and take a good deep long look at what people/myself want in regards to gaining trust back.

 

[Justified]

Amazing how many people blindly read the hit trap tweet without reading the real article/context in which Xbox isn't even singled out.

I think XBox is singled out here, because this is a gaming forum....but I agree the was an over zealous tweet.

However I believe this is blowing up because the backroom talk was that Bill Gates wouldnt support it/would block it. So him publicly stating this is big in the business/investment community

Reuters also reported in October that several major shareholders feel Microsoft chairman Bill Gates is blocking the radical changes the company must make-- further indication of the contentiousness that surrounds Microsoft's future tactics

http://www.informationweek.com/soft...-xbox-one-key-to-one-microsoft/d/d-id/1112761

 

[Lucumo]

Spinning off doesn't necessarily mean selling to another group. It really means the exact opposite of that -- bringing it out from the overall umbrella of MS and making it its own company.

That's what I thought as well but everyone else seems to understand something different :S

 

[Cloudy]

Why would Gates even comment on this? xb1 doesn't need anythign else to disuade buyers

 

[Justified]

It's all about the context, to which none was given, neither a link to the full story. It's just sensationalised tweets which is standard for Fox.

Then that is OPs fault. It was a series of tweets. The first in which has a link. I guess you could argue that she should have included it in every tweet, but I think that was what that #hashtags were for.

Again, outside of the business community is not a big deal, I dont think it was sensationalized though....

 

[facelike]

I think this was just a little bizarre. In the original tweet, she phrased it as if Gates said he's ready to support a spinoff of Xbox as soon as the CEO is. On the follow up link and quoted text, he explicitly says Bing and Xbox are here to stay. Was the person tweeting phrasing it this way for headlines or did he say both lines?

I wonder if what Gates meant is another division will be spun off besides Xbox and Bing, possibly Surface, and didn't want to mention it directly. Also they just finished buying Nokia and maybe they want to put their focus there first and shed some dead weight.

 

[LingeringRegime]

Facebook should snatch it up. They could pair it with the Oculus.

 

[BennyBlanco]

Facebook should snatch it up. They could pair it with the Oculus.

hardware not nearly strong enough

 

[iMax]

Puh-lease. Never gonna happen.

 

[Wickerbasket]

Spun off doesn't mean sold guys. They're two completely different things.

 

[Xiaoki]

Spinning off doesn't necessarily mean selling to another group. It really means the exact opposite of that -- bringing it out from the overall umbrella of MS and making it its own company.

Which wouldnt be any better than selling to another company.

Xbox, as its own company, would not be able to hide its billion dollar losses with Android patent royalties or even operate with such losses.

 

[JayEH]

This is non news.

 

[Sorcerer]

Wasn't Gates opposed to the original Xbox?

I think he just played along afterwards.

I still remember the 60 minutes feature where Gates declared Fusion Frenzy as his favorite title as he was playing it in a hotel room.

 

[iMax]

Spun off doesn't mean sold guys. They're two completely different things.

The only difference is that Microsoft would likely remain a major shareholder, at least initially. Ownership would be independent between both companies.

 

[rrc1594]

Why are people over reacting he said that Xbox is part of company long term?

 

[Hermii]

Selling isn't the same as spinning-off. In the latter, they'd still control it and reap the profits (and suffer the losses), but they'd be given more autonomy within the company.

But the real point here is that Bill Gates isn't going to publicly say "Man, fuck what Nadella wants, I have my own ideas."

This is how Im reading it. Nothing to panic over.

 

[old]

So they're not saying selling but separating?

 

[iMax]

Basically, this thread = Bill Gates supports CEO's decisions. Nothing to see here?

 

[BBboy20]

Well, that what it might take for me to get a Bone

 

[LQX]

Why are people over reacting he said that Xbox is part of company long term?

Well the thread title sort of says if they were to "spin off the XBox biz" he would be all for it.

I'm confused.

 

[Duxxy3]

I understand the context, but he picked a very bad time to even mention this.