Didn't he literally just announce that he plans to retire as soon as they can find a replacement for him? lol

http://www.zdnet.com/microsofts-ballmer-why-microsoft-doesnt-want-to-be-ibm-or-apple-and-more-7000019812/

Q: I'm curious why you guys are so taken with being a player in consumer. Why not 'just' be IBM? You're already so successful in enterprise, why not just focus there?


John Thompson, lead Microsoft board member : I think it's quite obvious that the consumerization of IT is going on around the world, and if this company is to remain relevant, it's got to have a meaningful position across the spectrum of the user base and the industry. And so to suggest that you can just be successful in the enterprise space and not have an impact on the business or the industry because of what's going on in the consumer segment I think is a little narrow in the definition of what the company can be.

If you look at history, history would suggest that the fact that some other big companies in this industry didn't focus on the consumer segment has made them increasingly less relevant in shaping the agenda for this industry. And I don't think that's an important attribute that we want to pursue at Microsoft. We want to be relevant forever, and that's about having a broad based portfolio with the right balance between the consumer and the enterprise segment.

If you look at the stats smartphone games are destroying everything else. So no they are not stupid they just don't care about Nintendo's legacy like fans do.

free/1 dollar smartphone games don't bring as much profit as 40/50/60 dollar games.

It's not Japan, and it's not just ONE idiot activist. It's a lot of investors, that might actually have influence over other investors, not like Dan Loebs.

Looking into it, seems like he's announced his retirement and shares jumped 8% on the news. Perhaps...there is some merit in this topic after all?

Then again, probably not. He likely knew this news well in advance and made these comments at the time because they know the media will pick up on them more now.

It happened for MS every year since 2004

They're not gonna care it

Still more probable then the sony Dan loebs think. Microsoft has less vertical integration of the products, and this has happened a lot previously in similar markets.

In sony case tough, (almost) never a solo activist investor (and even more a westerner) could change a japanese business. They trust a lot more the CEO, and investors are more like bankers trying to get their money back rather than actors in the enterprise.

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread.php?id=166691&page=1#

Also look at how SE shifted into smartphone games. Smaller budgets bigger profits.

Let them shout, XBox is too integrated into Windows and the whole infrastructure that it would take years to change. Xbox games and Xbox music represent heavy investments from MS, along wit X1 and the whole concept of a media hub.