Your argument is so flawed.

1st: I said shareholders (The people that OWN Sony) don't care about the Playstation. They only care about PROFIT. And that is something the Playstation products were way behind the competition for the past gen. This goes for every company in the world: Shareholders want profit. Period.

2nd: Why do you bring up something that has happened almost 2 decades ago? Sure the PS1 and PS2 were successful and made lots of money for Sony, but damn, this was 1994 - 2005!

3rd: Please accept that Sony is all about the money, like every business in the world. Somehow a lot of people spin this in crazy new directions. I remember that the exclusive content the PS3 version got for BF3 was because of the 'good relationship Sony has with EA'. No, it was because of the MONEY Sony spent for it. 2 years later EA supports MS with exclusive content. You know why? Money!

4th: I agree that Sony always supported the Playstation, but so does MS with the Xbox. 

5th: What kind of problems MS has with their shareholders? The stock is close to a 5 year high and they pay a healthy dividend.

bottom line: The likelihood of MS selling the Xbox business is just as high as Sony selling the Playstation business. Actually it is probably lower, because the Xbox business is posting way better financial numbers for MS than the Playstation business does for Sony in the past 4-5 years.

You're speaking in such a general sense. I understand what shareholders do, but I've also read the stories of how Playstation began and the board and shareholder response to the pitch for the Playstation by the head of Sony at the time and Ken Kutaragi. Their response to the playstation after the first generation was positive, unlike MS who even though in their second gen with the 360 are making profit they still dont care. 

Not sure i'd see the point.

In Sony's case to spin it off it'd be to get extra money for short term investments because Sony is cash poor. (which at best is a gamble)

Unless somethings changed, Microsoft is cash heavy and if it has any trouble it's finding things worthy enough to buy. Let alone sell stuff to get more cash they don't need.

They should just sell them outright?  For short term cash gains that would be a drop in the bucket of MS's already too large cash pool?

I think rather Sony should sell their Playstation brand.

Not enough short-term profit, you know?

@OP. I wonder, do you agree with these articles or do you just post them for the giggles?

I am speaking in such a general sense, because I am right.

When MS was about to launch the first Xbox, shareholders were quite shocked that it did not run Windows. Just like what happened at Sony, there is always a discussion about the product and its potential before the device is actually released.

This day and age, quite a few investors used the Xbox business as a positive example for product launches.

This quote tree has been shortened by yo_john117. In the future please keep quote trees three quotes total or less.

Problem is we're both right, I was just stating the current issues MS has with a lot of shareholders opposed to Sony. I see your side and I already know about it, I was just talking about it based on historical context. Pachter was even talking about MS and a shareholder whom has a two billion dollar stake in the company, who has zero say in the process on 'Pach Attack'. I've heard a couple shareholder meetings with a lot of older shareholders who cannot stand the way MS is handling the company. Pachter, much like the topic here imagined MS as a side product outside of Microsoft. The only difference between what he said and the topic was whether it would be sold to Samsung, but eh...I think its time to move on from this topic.

A samsung box would be cool. However, selling it to Sega would make my year.

What would MS gain by selling the XBox brand?

Well, Nobody cares about bing so get rid of that. As for the Xbox brand, it's still very profitable so I don't see why they would sell it. Although, if MS reps keeping putting their foots in their mouths, it might not be worth too much soon.

According to the shareholders it would give them a refocused effort vs apple and react accordingly to their advances on MS marketshare.