Should it stay or should it go? When it comes to Microsoft’s Xbox business, that recurring question continues to haunt Microsoft executives. Investors have been making the case for breaking off the company’s Xbox division for some time now, and Xbox gamers continue to become enraged whenever the idea is mentioned. Now, Microsoft co-founder and former CEO Bill Gates has weighed in.
Speaking with Fox Business Anchor Liz Claman, Gates said that he would definitely support spinning Microsoft’s Xbox business into a separate company in the event that new CEO Satya Nadella made the decision to do so. “Absolutely,” he said when asked if he would support Nadella if such a decision were made.
Gates did not address whether or not he personally feels Xbox should be broken off into a new company.
While the living room is seen as one of several areas where Microsoft will have to compete in order to thrive in the future, Xbox has not historically been a big moneymaker for the company. Spinning the division into a new company could allow Microsoft to increase its focus on areas that have been thriving, such as Office and cloud solutions.
Updated to correct the wording of Gates’s response, which was incorrectly quoted by Claman.
