Bill Gates was asked in an interview yesterday if he would be OK with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella spinning off the company’s Xbox business. His reply was as unequivocal as it was predictable:
Gates did not advocate pushing Xbox out on its own. But when asked whether he would support a hypothetical decision by Nadella to make Xbox its own company, Gates simply answered, “absolutely.”
“I’m sure Satya and the team will look at that … and it’s up to them,” Gates said of a possible spin-off.
“Absolutely?”
Absolutely.
I mean Nadella has been CEO for all of three months. What else was Gates going to say? … Well, let’s use our imaginations:
- “We’ll cross that bridge when Satya asks my permission.”
- “Oh, I don’t know. It’s not like we’re talking about Nintendo here.”
- “Did I let Ballmer do it? Ding, ding, ding.”
No, “absolutely” was his only choice.
