He is thinking what I'm thinking.

Microsoft spins off the xbox division but like Vivendi with Activision Blizzard keeps a controlling interest of shares so investor's only get 40% of the xbox division and with great IP like Halo, Gears of War and Minecraft (which is so huge investors will have heard of it) Microsoft gets an easy payday.

They could also sell off the entire division instead of just a stake. 

I'd be good with it, just because I think Sony + Nintendo is enough for the game business and Nintendo could in that case return to a more 90s like approach.

But logically I doubt it. You don't buy the 3rd or 4th largest gaming IP in the world at the moment to then sell off the game division.

It would be like Disney buying Star Wars and then announcing they are getting out of the live action movie business.

But Disney doesn't want to get out of the movie business. I think this situation (if true) is more like renovating a house so that you can sell it for a higher price. Investors wouldn't be impressed if they saw Xbox's current profit margins and losses over the years. This would help make it look much more attractive.  

Yeah but that would be like an extreme renovation. Minecraft isn't some small IP, it's perhaps the biggest IP in gaming right now. 

I just don't see it, if anything I think it signals that MS is re-engaging with the game business in a big way.

And I don't think MS wants to sell the division, you're reaching there. Just because it isn't the same priority as their core businesses doesn't mean they'll just gift it off to Samsung and let them Android-ize the f*ck out of of it. 

MS if anything is probably under heat to start spending some of their money since they hold such large cash reserves off-shore. 

Wake me up when it happens.

Okay, but 2 billion dollars?

2 billion dollars to spin it off? Sounds legit.

Am I the only one who doesn't understand what a 'spin-of' is? Like would Xbox be it's own company? I don't get it...