CEO candidate Stephen Elop said to consider selling Xbox

I would guess it's because Google doesn't make money off of search, they make money off of everything else. MS built the search function, but they have thus far failed to parleys all the information tracking and whatnot into something that makes money.

Even if these are rumors they've been around long enough and also seeing the lack of head the Xbox division going up to this launch makes me skeptical enough. As someone who went through the dreamcast getting dropped after I had already fallen in love with it, I'll just wait and see on getting the next xbox.

1. Open up internet explorer.

2. Searches with bing by default.

Android stuff makes a ton of money right now and even covers the losses in the XBox division also Microsoft was never really about gaming to begin with that is not how they make money.

Microsoft has nothing to do with Android. That's Google.

The fact that you associate Android with Microsoft makes any discussion you start about the demise of MS or the Xbox brand laughable.

The reason why Bing is viewed as a big looser is that all of those "gains" have come from lesser companies instead of Google. Or in other words Bing hasn't grown or even coming close to competing against Google but others have simply gotten out.

When your big growth comes from Yahoo switching to Bing, that should show you that Bing has problems.

As much as I dislike the Xbox(I own one for a few exclusives), outright liquidating the gaming division of MS would be a horrible mistake. Both for competitors and gaming in general.

Microsoft is generating $2 billion per year in revenue from Android patent royalties, says Nomura analyst Rick Sherlund in a new note on the company

Investors are blind to Xbox's struggles, says Sherlund, because they are "concealed by the hugely profitable Android royalties."

Read more:

http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-earns-2-billion-per-year-from-android-patent-royalties-2013-11#ixzz2k5uwbgOG

I'm not sure why people believe that. If anything the way that the XBox One has been handled should show you that maybe Microsoft is a inept hardware design and marketing. On the other hand, Microsoft has shown they have the resources and ability to design software. If one is a bean counter, they too would probably recommend Microsoft get out of selling game consoles and into selling the software that runs game consoles.

In my view their fears a little unfounded analysts believe there is an element of inevitability at play. They are expecting 'the shoe to drop' on either Apple going more into games by extending Apple TV or Samsung will due to their direction they are taking their Android devices. At that point is there room for Microsoft to compete against either of these giants who have far more hardware and software device design and experience?

@extomar: Once the day comes when Apple and Android is synonymous with video games and not PC or consoles; kill me.

In the last fiscal year Microsoft made almost 22bn dollars of profit. Their revenue was close to 78bn dollars. The Entertainment and Devices (XBox/LIVE, Windows Phone) was responsible for just under 10bn dollars in revenue. That's a 1/7th of total revenue (including mobile), a big chunk yes but Microsoft is nowhere "lost" without Xbox. Moreover profits were only 343 million dollars though it is hard to determine how this is distributed between XBox/Windows Phone.

See the other important thing is return on investment, if every dollar invested into Xbox means 2 dollars profit and every dollar invested into say cloud computing solutions (Azure) means 3 dollars profit than the choice is quickly made by the investors. More so if selling the division means getting rich now instead in over a long (uncertain) period.

@darji: I was referring to the fact that you keep referring to the money made off of the Android patents as masking the Xbox divisions supposed abysmal performance. The revenue generated from these patents only accounts for about 2.5% of Microsoft's projected revenue for 2013.

How is xbox not a profit for them?

Yes they do but they make up for the losses MS gets with the Xbox brand. Again Microsoft is not about gaming or Xbox. The stuff they make money on are Server applications and other business tools and stuff. That is why they make a ton of money.

I think you misunderstood what I said.

If Microsoft makes money they will not care if some kid knows them. They are very well known in the business world and that is where they make their money.

More like AX-BONED!

The division has been profitable here and there, but it's also been a gigantic money sink for them. Consider these facts:

• Microsoft never made money on hardware sales for the original Xbox. For its entire four year life, Microsoft lost money on every single Xbox sold.
• On top of that, they only had one profitable quarter for the entire four year life cycle of the original Xbox, and that was the fall Halo 2 came out.
• They then doubled down on the Xbox 360 which took a couple years for them to be able to profit off hardware sales, even longer if you add in the billions of dollars they had to spend on fixing the red ring issue.
• And in the grand scheme of things, the Xbox represents Microsoft's transformation from a primarily software-focused company to an Apple-like proprietary hardware manufacturer, something many investors don't like because it's required a lot of investment for minimal payoff (for every success like the Xbox 360, there's a failure like the Kin).

Obviously you gotta spend money to make money, but the argument many people have made is that Microsoft has spent too much money to make too little money and should cut their losses and pull an IBM while they still can.

could this be the way Apple finally gets into the living room?

I still really don't see this happening. I don't know. With such a huge thing releasing soon and so many partnerships and games coming out for it and with it's supposed lifecycle of 10 years, I don't understand why these rumours would come out now.

Not Bing!?!?!

Did they need a CEO to float this idea? Even homeless people scoff at bing.

Pretty sure most people know them because of Windows, could be because nearly every school runs their OSes, you know.

Notice how I said "one of".

Apple has already tried with devices ranging from the Pippin to Apple TV. The living room audience has never been that much of a success for them.

I could see Microsoft potentially selling the Xbox division to someone or spinning it out into its own entity; as others have said, the company has historically never made much money at all on proprietary hardware. The original Xbox was a giant money drain, the RROD issue was costly to both their pockets and public perception, the Zune came and went, and the Surface was done in by both a crowded market and a horrible ad campaign. After the past six months, with the reversals in policies and everything else, I imagine that there are some on Microsoft's board that see the Xbox division as weight that they'd rather cut loose if the opportunity presented itself.

On the assumption that Microsoft were to sell to someone, there's no telling what effect that would have on the Xbox One as a viable platform. Part of that depends on the buyer, the resources they have to support Microsoft's existing hardware and firmware, as well as interactions with third-party publishers/developers. Not to mention what this would mean for Microsoft's internal game development at 343 and Rare. If Microsoft sells off the Xbox division, then they probably wouldn't have any use for those studios. Which again, some board executives would rather be without, as game development is a drain on resources that could be put to working on ventures that they see as more profitable.

The key thing to note in all of this is that Microsoft is not and has never been a video game company first and foremost. They do not need the Xbox to survive. If circumstances dictate that they would be better off without it and have the opportunity to sell it off at a price they find worthwhile, then a sale is not out of the realm of possibility.

These rumors are nothing new they are there for years now but now with a lead figure gone and the search for a new CEO it is likely to happen. Proposing something like that would help them a big deal to even get this position . And the XBox one will not die they will just change ownership. if they can find a buyer for it. It is a huge money sink investors always wanted to let go of and now the time seems right to do so.

Until Valve wins the console war.

Sony and Nintendo drop from the console race.

Gabe enslaves humanity.

Who would be willing to buy Xbox if it's only been profitable in fits and starts? It may be a relatively small portion of Microsoft, but a small portion of Microsoft is pretty huge to many companies.

Maybe Samsung or some huge eastern company. The reason why Micorsoft made no money are their huge investment in exclusive and other stuff like the NFL license for example. When someone buys this brand than they will surely not invest as much money for these things as MS does.

Well as long as it doesn't die I'm pretty ok with it.