Should Microsoft sell Windows and Office? This former exec believes so
A former Microsoft executive has offered up some advice for current CEO Satya Nadella: spin off Windows and Office and focus on Azure, Microsoft's cloud computing crown jewel.
Ben Slivka, a 14-year veteran at Microsoft who left in 1999, gave the unsolicited advice to Nadella in an interview with CNBC, saying: "The right thing probably is to bet the future on the cloud."
“People running the Windows business put the mobile OS people in a box and constrained what they could do,” Slivka said. “They had their little ‘Start’ button and all this other bullshit. Microsoft rebooted its mobile strategy three times. Finally cellphone manufacturers and developers just gave up.”
Satya Nadella took over the reigns at Microsoft in 2014 at a perilous time and has done an exceptional job, equal to – and perhaps even surpassing – Tim Cook at Apple.
Since then, Microsoft's stock has risen from around $36 to $315, where it sits today, having gained 51% in 2021 alone, outpacing the S&P 500's 27% rise.
