Insiders say Elop could sell off Xbox and cancel Bing if he became Microsoft CEO

Bloomberg has spoken to three anonymous sources who claim to have knowledge of Stephen Elop's current mindset, and who say he'd consider making some radical moves if he become Microsoft's CEO. Now, bearing in mind there could be some seriously heavy axes being ground here, the details of what Elop might "consider" doing at Microsoft look almost designed to stir a fuss among investors and customers alike. For a start, the former Nokia CEO (and cost-slasher) would apparently contemplate selling off Microsoft's high-profile Xbox division, if he deemed the department to be less than critical to the company's overall strategy. Instead, the story goes, he'd focus the software giant's efforts on products and services related to its Office applications. Somewhat less scandalously, he'd allegedly also contemplate cancelling Bing. Some analysts have previously put forward the idea of dropping Xbox and Bing in order to raise Microsoft's profits in the short term, so these ideas haven't come out of nowhere, but they still seem slightly premature for a man who's only just got himself on the CEO shortlist.

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